St. Theodore Tyron and St. Theodore Stratilates church

St. Theodore Tyron and St. Theodore Stratelates church was built in 1614 although there are indications that 1122 might be the actual year of construction.

The church is a small basilica of simple architecture with a nave and two aisles, almost hidden in the surrounding space. The simple architecture can be explained with a restriction imposed by the Ottoman Empire to construct large Christian temples.

The church was built more like a residential building, which is probably why it survived for centuries.

The simple external appearance of the church is compensated by rich inner decoration. The magnificent wall paintings are impressive with the images of 460 biblical scenes and local saints. The wall paintings literally cover every square centimeter of the church. At the time, when usually no more than 4-5 images of Saints were depicted in the temples, here we can observe 30. The images of the warrior saints St. Dimitrius, St. Theodore Tyron and St. Theodore Stratelates dominate the church. The artists who painted the frescoes did not leave their names in the church.  According to medieval traditions, the author had to remain anonymous because it was not his thoughts, but God was the one who moved his hand.

One thing is sure and it is that there had been several artists - grand master, journeyman and apprentices. The grand master painted the main scenes and the saints, while the journeyman and the apprentices created some of the less important scenes.

The church was built in such a manner that it maintains the same temperature all year round, which enables the preservation of the wall paintings. Even without any ventilation, the frescoes look as if they were painted yesterday.

A small mineral spring is located in the garden. The legend says that after the battle of Klutch in the year 1014, the fourteen thousand blinded soldiers of Tsar Samuil succeeded to reach the church and some of them settled here, founding a singing school. It still exists. According to another legend,the soldiers of Tsar Samuil are the real founders of the village. Coming back from the battle, blinded, they reached the mineral spring and remained here to heal their wounds.