Church of St Demetrius, Patalenitsa

The church was built in the 11th–14th century, with a possible dating to 1091 based on a stone plate inscription, the present location or even existence of which is unclear.

According to Bulgarian National Revival enlightener Stefan Zahariev from Pazardzhik, St Demetrius was not the first church in this location.

In his description of the Pazardzhik district (kaza) published in 1870, he writes that a previously existing church in roughly the same place was dedicated to Saint Pantaleon and had given its name to the village of Patalenitsa.

[3] Some publications refer to a marble plate found in the church and bearing a Medieval Greek inscription with the following text: "[by] Gregory Kourkouas, pro[tospatharios] and duke of Ph[ilippopolis], indiction 14, year 6599 (= 1090/1091)".

According to that story, the church was buried and forgotten about by the villagers until the mid-19th century, when a local coincidentally rediscovered it while tying his donkey to a nearby cherry tree.

Reportedly, that cherry tree was struck by a thunderbolt, which enabled the villagers to reach the buried gate through the now-hollow trunk.

[5][7] The Church of St Demetrius in Patalenitsa was built of stone, though the dome and side bays also exhibit brickwork.

According to Nikolova, the mural inscriptions in Medieval Greek (as opposed to Middle Bulgarian) are evidence that the frescoes were painted during the Byzantine rule of Bulgaria (1018–1185).