ORDO SUPREMUS MILITARIS TEMPLI HIEROSOLYMITANI GRAND PRIORY OF BULGARIA INFORMATION OSMTH Grand Magistral Council – Fall 2016 OSMTH Grand Chapter General meeting & Investiture Sofia BULGARIA 12-16 OCTOBER 2016 NON NOBIS DOMINE NON NOBIS SED NOMINI TUO DA GLORIAM SOFIA General Information Sofia (pronounced [ˈsɔfijɐ]) is the biggest city and capital of Bulgaria, as well as the 15th biggest city in the European Union with a population of 1,267,098 people (last officially registered in 2014, unofficially – there are around 2 000 000 resi- dents). It is the major administrative, industrial, transport, cultural and educational center of the country, concentrating 17 percent of the population and one sixth of the industrial production in Bulgaria. Protected by three mountains, Sofia Kettle enjoys a pleasant temperate continental climate, while its altitude of 550 meters above sea level gives it fourth position among the capitals of Europe. Sofia and the kettle are dominated by Vitosha Mountain. Few capital cities in the world can boast so beautiful, so close and easily accessible Natural Park. With its seven thousand-year history, the city is one of the oldest human settlements in Europe, and its numerous historical and architectural monuments harbor the wise messages of cen- tennial cultural experience. The very name of the city, Sofia (from Greek “σοφία”, “wis- dom”), has preserved for the generations one of the most beautiful cultural symbols of Christi- anity – the 'divine wisdom'. The city with the motto “It Grows but Does not Age” is the suc- cessor of the ancient Roman city of Serdica that early in the 2nd century AD grew into a regional center in the Roman Empire and at the end of the 3rd century AD it became the capital of the newly established province of Inner Dacia (Dacia Mediterranea). 2 The ancient city of Serdica (modern Sofia) was the place where the Edict of Tol- eration was issued by the Roman emperor Galerius in 311, officially ending the Diocletianic persecution of Christianity. The Edict implicitly granted Christianity the status of "religio licita", a worship recognized and accepted by the Roman Em- pire. It was the first edict legalizing Christianity, preceding the Edict of Milan of emperors Constantine I and Licinius by two years. Since ancient times the town and its sur- roundings have been famous for the abun- abundance of hot and cold mineral springs, which still continue to gush into the center of modern Sofia, accessible to all, and attracting Sofia citizens and the guests of the capital with their numerous healing qualities. The plenty of antiquities in the city is combined with many modern concert halls, opera, major national museums, art galleries, theatres, clubs, discos, jazz and un- derground locales offering exciting experiences for all tastes and preferences. The dynamic development of the city in recent years has provided many amenities for business trips, congress tourism, business meetings and trade shows. Sofia is an excellent place for culinary and wine-tasting tourism. Many modern cafes, bars, bistros and restaurants of varied designs offer an impressive menu list, in which any of the gourmet specialties of modern culinary world is hardly absent. Sofia also provides excellent conditions for sport – several stadia and well equipped gyms, outdoor tennis courts, golf courses and facilities for horseback riding, spa pools. And only twenty minutes from downtown, during the winter, in the great Vitosha Nature Park one can even ski at night. 3 SOFIA LANDMARKS 1. Churches The Church of St George is a late Ro- man rotunda dated from 4th century situated in the courtyard of the Shera- Church of ton Sofia Hotel. It was constructed St George with red bricks and is considered the oldest building in Sofia. It is known for its Medieval frescoes in the central dome dating from 12th-14th centuries. The early Byzantine Church of St So- phia was built in the 6th century on the place of an ancient Roman theatre and Church of several earlier churches. During the St Sophia Second Bulgarian Empire the structure served as the cathedral of the city but was later converted to a mosque by the Ottoman Empire. The Boyana Church is a medieval Bul- garian Orthodox church situated on the Boyana outskirts of Sofia, the capital of Bul- Church garia, in the Boyana quarter. The mon- ument was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979. The tiny Church of St Petka of the th Church of Saddlers from the 14 century featur- ing some fine frescoes. It is a one-nave St Petka edifice dedicated to St Petka, an 11th century Bulgarian saint. It was created between 1901 and 1902 through the conversion of an aban- doned Ottoman mosque, and was inau- Church of gurated on 27 July 1903.The so-called St. Sedmo- Black Mosque was built in 1528 on the chislenitsi order of Suleiman the Magnificent with the intention to be more impres- sive and beautiful than the Christian churches in the city. 4 St Nedelya is a medieval church that has suffered destruction through the ages and has been reconstructed many Church of times. It was razed in the assault in 1925 that claimed over 150 victims. St Nedelya After the assault, the church was re- stored to its modern appearance. Today St Nedelya is a cathedral of the Sofia bishopric of the Bulgarian Patriarchate. The gold-domed Alexander Nevsky Cathedral was built in the early 20th century in memory of the 200,000 Alexander Russian, Ukrainian, Belorussian and Bulgarian soldiers, who died in the Nevsky Russo-Turkish War, 1877–1878. It is Cathedral one of the largest Eastern Orthodox cathedrals in the world. The cathedral's gold-plated dome is 45 m high, with the bell tower reaching 50.52 m. The church, dedicated to Saint Par- askeva, is the third-largest church in Church of Sofia. The construction of the Church St. Paraskeva of St Paraskeva was complete by 1930, but the finishing works on the porticos did not cease until 1940. The Russian Church or the Church of St. Nicholas the Miracle-Maker, built in 1914 is dedicated to the patron-saint of the Russian Tsar at the time Nicho- Russian Church las II. The construction was supervised by the architect A. Smirnov, who was building the Alexander Nevsky Cathe- dral nearby. The Roman Catholic cathedral in Sofia was rebuilt at its previous location af- ter it has been destroyed by the Allied bombing raids during World War II. It was inaugurated on 21 May 2006 in Cathedral of the presence of Angelo Cardinal So- St Joseph dano, Dean of the College of Cardinals and Cardinal Secretary of State of the Roman Catholic Church. The founda- tion stone of the new cathedral was laid personally by Pope John Paul II during his visit to Bulgaria in 2002. 5 The Monastery of Saint Ivan of Rila, bet- ter known as the Rila Monastery (Bulgar- ian: Рилски манастир, Rilski manastir) is the largest and most famous Eastern Or- thodox monastery in Bulgaria. It is situat- ed in the southwestern Rila Mountains, 117 km (73 mi) south of the capital Sofia Rila Monastery in the deep valley of the Rilska River at an elevation of 1,147 m (3,763 ft) above sea level. The monastery is named after (Monastery of Saint Ivan of its founder, the hermit Ivan of Rila (876 - 946 AD). Rila) Founded in the 10th century, the Rila Monastery is regarded as one of Bulgar- ia's most important cultural, historical and architectural monuments and is a key tourist attraction for both Bulgaria and Southern Europe. In 2015 alone, it at- tracted 900,000 visitors. 6 2. Museums The National Historical Museum is among the largest museums in Eastern National Europe and possesses more than 650,000 artifacts. Ancient Thracian Historical treasures, artifacts from Hellenistic, Museum Roman and Medieval periods, church icons are among the most valuable objects in the collection. The National Archaeological Museum occupies the largest and oldest former Ottoman mosque in the city built in National 1474. It has a large collection of ar- Archaeological chaeological artifacts from all over the Museum Balkans including some of the golden Thracian treasures. The museum is among Bulgaria's oldest and was inau- gurated in 1905. The National Military History Muse- National Museum um is a Bulgarian museum based in of Military History Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, and ded- icated to military history. It's one of the biggest mineralogical Earth and Man museums in the world. It was founded National Museum on 30 December 1985 and opened for visitors on 19 June 1987. The museum's collection includes over 400 stuffed mammals, over 1,200 spe- cies of birds, hundreds of thousands of insects and other invertebrata, as well as samples of about one quarter of the National Museum world's mineral species. The National of Natural History Museum of Natural History was founded in 1889 as the Natural History Museum of Knyaz Ferdinand of Bul- garia (Ferdinand Maximilian Karl Le- opold Maria of Saxe-Coburg and Go- tha). 7 3. Arts and culture It is located on Battenberg Square in the capital city of Sofia, occupying most of the historic and imposing National Art edifice of the former royal palace of Gallery Bulgaria, having been established in 1934 and moved to the palace in 1946, after the abolition of the mon- archy. The National Gallery “Square 500” occupies an imposing 19th century building. The Bulgarian collection was set up in the end of the 19th cen- tury. The permanent exposition fea- tures Bulgarian art as well as Europe- National Gallery an, Asian (Buddhist, Japanese and Indian) and African art.