The Church of St. Nicholas (official name - Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker) is located in the very centre of Sofia.
After the end of the Russo-Turkish War, a community of Russians appeared in Sofia, who initiated the construction of an Orthodox church. The city authorities allocated a plot of 1400 square metres, and in the period from 1907 to 1914, a majestic building was erected according to the project of the famous Russian architect M.T. Preobrazhensky. The construction works were completed in 1911, and the following years were spent to decorate the temple from outside and inside - to finish finishing works, to decorate the iconostasis and others. The walls were painted by Russian artists, the process was led by V. T. Perminov.
Unlike most Orthodox churches in Bulgaria, the Church of St Nicholas the Wonderworker did not conform to the style of the Bulgarian Renaissance, but was built in the traditionally Russian style, with all its inherent elements. According to the architectural solution, the church is a quatrefoil (a building with four sides) with adjoining side rooms, an altar, and a porch-porch. The building is crowned by towers with gilded onion domes - four on the sides and one, the highest, in the centre. This is a gift from Emperor Nicholas II of the Russian Empire. All the chapels are decorated with crosses. The roof of the porch and part of the main building are covered with green irrigated tiles.
Along the whole temple stretches a wide frieze made of coloured tiles. The window caps are made of white stone and decorated with gilded decorative elements. Above the central entrance is an image of Nicholas the Wonderworker.
The church building is striking in its monumentality.
The interior decoration of the temple is a delight. There is a gilded majolica iconostasis made in St. Petersburg. Also of interest are four icons, which are exact copies of icons from the Cathedral of St Vladimir in Kiev.
The church is a place of pilgrimage for many believers, because there is a marble tomb belonging to Archbishop and wonderworker Seraphim Sobolev.
