Ascension Cathedral, Veliko Tarnovo
The Ascension Cathedral is a former Orthodox Cathedral in the medieval fortress of Tsarevets, named after the hill on which it stands.
About this building
The first church standing on the site of the Cathedral was a Roman basilica built around the 5th or 6th century AD. The Cathedral was built in the 11th century or 12th century during the time of the Second Bulgarian Empire as a monastery church. It has three naves and a triple apse. The medieval Cathedral was destroyed after the conquest of the Ottomans. It was rebuilt in 1981 when Bulgaria was under the communist rule .
The cathedral houses frescoes by the artist Teofan Sokerov depicting different chapters of Bulgarian history. The frescoes have been the subject of conflicting opinions between those who consider them art and those who consider them an offence to a religious site.
Since its reopening in the 1980s the cathedral has not been consecrated and remains a museum rather than a place of worship.
