page_title: Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia
section_title: Design and construction
hierarchical_section_title: Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia / Design and construction
caption_attribution_description: English: Inside the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia
context_page_description: The St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is a Bulgarian Orthodox cathedral in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Built in Neo-Byzantine style, it serves as the cathedral church of the Patriarch of Bulgaria and it is believed to be one of the 50 largest Christian church buildings by volume in the world. It is one of Sofia's symbols and primary tourist attractions.
  The St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia occupies an area of 3,170 square metres and can hold 5,000 people inside. It is believed to be among the 10 largest Eastern Orthodox church buildings. It is the third largest Orthodox Cathedral located in Southeast Europe, being surpassed only by two new and not yet fully completed Cathedrals - the Romanian People's Salvation Cathedral in Bucharest, and the Church of Saint Sava in Belgrade. It is believed that until year 2000 it was the largest finished Orthodox Cathedral.
context_section_description: The construction of the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral started in 1882 (having been planned since 19 February 1879), when the foundation stone was laid, but most of it was built between 1904 and 1912. Saint Alexander Nevsky was a Russian prince. The cathedral was created in honour to the Russian soldiers who died during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, as a result of which Bulgaria was liberated from Ottoman rule.
  The cathedral was designed by Alexander Pomerantsev, aided by Alexander Smirnov and Alexander Yakovlev, as the initial 1884-1885 project of Ivan Bogomolov was radically changed by Pomerantsev. The final design was finished in 1898, and the construction and decoration were done by a team of Bulgarian, Russian, Austro-Hungarian and other European artists, architects and workers, including the aforementioned architects, as well as Petko Momchilov, Yordan Milanov, Haralampi Tachev, Ivan Mrkvička, Vasily Bolotnov, Nikolay Bruni, Alexander Kiselyov, Anton Mitov and many others.
  The marble parts and the lighting fixtures were created in Munich, the metal elements for the gates in Berlin, while the gates themselves were manufactured in Karl Bamberg's factory in Vienna, and the mosaics were shipped from Venice.
caption: Interior
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