Early Christian basilica /3rd cent./

The early Christian basilica, located in the heart of the historical part of Varna, is the most remarkable and largest temple in the area from the early Byzantine period. According to research, it functioned as an episcopal temple in early Christian Odessos.

According to research, the basilica was characterized by three construction periods. The original building on this site was built at the end of the 4th - beginning of the 5th century and was a single-apsed basilica with a greatly reduced proportion. It was extremely richly decorated both inside and outside - wall paintings, mosaics and architectural elements of colored marble. After a short existence (several decades) it was destroyed, most likely by an earthquake. In its place, in the 5th century, a significantly larger three-nave balisica with two porches was built, which existed for nearly 60 years. She also had lavish decorative decorations. The mosaics exhibited in the Regional History Museum - Varna and the museum building of Aladzha Monastery, restored in 2002, are also from this period. When they were removed, in the central nave - near the altar, a brick two-chamber crypt was discovered, and in it a reliquary with the relics of an unknown saint. From the third construction period is a church with the same plan, built on the ruins of the old one, but with a marble floor. It was probably destroyed during the capture of the city by the Slavs in 614.

Architecturally, the building is a large single-apsed, three-nave basilica with an undivided narthex (portico) to the west, an exonarthex and possibly an atrium (courtyard to the west). Its length is 40 m, and its width is 16 m. In some places, its walls have been preserved at a height of up to 1.60 m. In the northwestern part of the basilica, there was probably an attached round baptistery (baptism). Due to the dense residential development of the central city area, parts of the exonarthex, the southern nave, the baptistery and the atrium remained unexplored.

According to the News of the Varna Archaeological Society, the church was discovered by accident in 1914. when laying a water pipe. In 1949, it was excavated by the archaeologist M. Mirchev. It was completely excavated (in its present form) and studied in the period 1969-1973 by D. Dimitrov, A. Kuzev and M. Lazarov.

At the moment, the object is easily accessible, but not socialized and represents an organic part of an intra-neighborhood space in the historical core of the city. Thanks to the joint efforts of the Regional History Museum - Varna and the residents of the buildings near the archaeological site, the area is relatively maintained and the site is in a satisfactory technical condition.​​

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