Red Church (Bulgaria)

The Red Church (Bulgarian: Червена църква, Chervena tsarkva, pronounced [tʃɛrˈvɛnɐ ˈtsɤrkvɐ]) is a large partially preserved late Roman (early Byzantine) Christian basilica in south central Bulgaria.

The symmetry of the building is disrupted by a baptistery with a piscina attached to the northern wall of the narthex and a chapel located under the semi-dome of the church's south side.

[4] Though now lost, part of those early frescoes were the apocryphal scenes of the flight of Elizabeth and the murder of Zechariah, John the Baptist's parents.

The outbreak of World War I delayed any further research until 1921, when excavations were continued by the Bulgarian Archaeological Institute with the financial aid of American Byzantinist Thomas Whittemore.

[10] Architecture historian Margarita Koeva considers the church one of the prime examples of the changes which ensued in the modern Bulgarian lands following the Edict of Milan of 313.