The Early Christian church complex in Sandanski

The modern town of Sandanski in south-western Bulgaria totally covers the site of an ancient forerunner, the name of which is unknown till today. Archaeological finds of the last decades prove the existence of a wealthy provincial town of Roman times, that has also been a bishop`s see in late antiquity. The project concentrates upon the investigation of the bishop`s church and its surroundings. Parts of the church were uncovered accidentally during construction work for the new town hall in 1989. Systematic research started in 1992, since 1995 there exists an Austrian - Bulgarian cooperation that shall be continued within this project. As far as it is clear till now the church was the largest of four that were uncovered in Sandanski since 1960. The nave is flanked by two aisles surmounted by galleries and terminates in an inside semicircular and outside rectangular apse. The narthex lies to the west, the atrium to the south. Outside of the narthex follows a corridor connecting the baptistery with the church. This baptistery had already been found during World War I in 1917 and used as a shelter, but been forgotten after-wards. It was discovered again two years ago when the western parts of the excavation site were cleared. Though being misused as a shelter the walls still stand up to the base of the vault and the baptistery is one of the focal points of the project`s work. The aforementioned atrium can be located to the south but has not been excavated till now. It connected the building complex with a porticoed street that led through the town`s centre and from which all of the churches could be reached. From the beginning the bishop`s church was lavishly decorated by wall-paintings, floor-mosaics and elaborately figured chancel screens. At least three phases can be discerned, the oldest belonging to the end of the 4th or the beginning of the 5th century. Later phases brought the elevation of the chancel, now covered by an opus-sectile- floor, the insertion of an ambo in the 5th and of two pastophories as well as benches in the 6th century. All things considered it is a typical example of early church architecture in the southern Balkans with mosaic-pavements and wall-paintings above the average. The interior decoration should also provide additional information for the churches excavated in earlier years. These diggings had partly been rescue excavations leaving some questions open. The mosaics of the narthex of the bishop`s church can be linked with those from the nave of basilica 2, those from basilica 3 and those from a small church found near Mikrevo, 15 km outside of San-danski. On a larger scale the workshop can be compared to the better known examples of Stobi and other towns from Macedonia. Another point of interest within the project are topographical questions, that have been mostly neglected till now. Some of the older excavations never were published so that our knowledge of Sandanski in late antique times is quite limited. The aim is to recover information from earlier digs and to evaluate the finds from the necropoleis.

The project focuses on the scientific analysis of a late-antique bishop`s see under the modern town of Sandanski. The complex in the beginning does not seem to have comprised of more than the church and an early baptistery not found until today. Due to the needs of a growing community and changing demands of liturgy, the church was enlarged and twice refurbished as well as rooms added. At the provisional end of the excavation, the following evolution of the complex can be traced: the earliest church was built at the beginning of the 5th century. It was a three-aisled basilica without narthex, that could be entered directly from the atrium. As can be shown by the remnants of the mosaic-floor at this time the chancel was not raised, but lay on the same level as the rest of the church. From the nave it was separated by chancel-screens decorated with figures. Those parapets have come down on us in a very fragmented way, but seem to have been highly appreciated as they were re-used during all phases of the church. As bases, shafts and capitals spolia, taken from a building of the 3rd century were used. Further the interior decoration comprised a mosaic-floor with geometrical design as well as wall-painting imitating architectural decoration. During the 2nd half of the 5th century the church was enlarged through the building of a narthex in the west, in the nave an ambo was added slightly south to the middle axis. The builder of this enlargement certainly was mentioned in an inscription that could be seen by everyone entering the church from the narthex. The inscription was laid out in the mosaic- floor but unfortunately nearly totally destroyed. Shortly afterwards two thirds of the floor in the nave were rebuilt, only the part where the ambo stood remained unchanged. Simultaneously the chancel was raised and covered with a lavish opus-sectile-floor. Similar changes and refurbishings can be traced in many churches on the Balkans and Northern Greece. As the need for additional rooms increased, accordingly annexes in the west were built and at the same time a new baptistery. This was planned as a domed rotunda and seems to have had a mosaic in the cupola from the beginning as well as wall-paintings and architectural sculpture of high workmanship. In the middle of the 6th century more structural alterations were carried out. In consequence of its location at the foot of a hill water seems to have endangered the stability of the building. In front of the columns dividing the northern aisle from the nave, a channel was inserted, the floor raised and covered with marble slabs. The aisles, due to their minor importance, were covered with tiles, except the newly installed pastophoria cut off from them in the east. The clergy benches were moved from the apse to both sides of the altar, for the congregation little benches were added along the walls. In this form the basilica survived only a few decades as it was destroyed at the end of the 6th century. Besides its scientific relevance the complex is a great attraction for the upcoming tourism in the area. An on-site presentation is planned.