The Assumption church

The Assumption Church is the oldest and the most impressive one in town.The inhabitants of Haskovo had to invest a lot of faith, efforts and courage, as well as the to unite and struggle a lot before they got the explicit permission to build their church during the years of the Ottoman rule.The Church was inaugurated under extremely festive atmosphere on August 15, 1837 – on the very date of one of the biggest Christian holidays, the Assumption holiday.
The Church was built on the site of an ancient chapel, in a spacious courtyard fenced by a more than 4 meters high stone wall, meant to protect this holy building from profane desecration. Strangely enough and for completely unknown reasons, the church was built to almost completely face southeast-northwest direction. In terms of style, the Assumption Church was built as a nave basilica with a two-sloped roof without domes. The inner space is divided into three altar apsides. The icon stasis - done by master-painters from the Debar school - fascinates with its rich wood carving. The most remarkable mural of all is the image of "The Blessing God". This large size painting in the middle of the arch leaves the visor with the impression of the Blessing God being the Pantocrator, which was probably the true intention of the painter, ultimately quite skilfully embedded in this almost placed-in-heaven image of God.