Saint Nicholas (Maritsa)

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St. Nicholas is a late medieval Bulgarian church in the village of Maritza, Samokov municipality, Sofia region.

Location
The temple is the former parish church of the village of Maritsa. It is located in the southwest part of the village.

History
It was built in the last decades of the 16th century.

Architecture
One-ship, one-apsidal building with external dimensions 6,30 x 3,50 m and internal dimensions: 5,4 m. length, 3.6 m. width and 3,2 m. height. The thick up to 1 m. walls are made of river stones fused with mortar.

On the eastern wall of the church, on the left of the apse, over the extra carved prosthetic niche there is a memorable inscription. Although partially damaged, the following text may be reconstructed: " [This church of St. Nicholas] built itself [of Ma] hawala and great. God forgive me. Nikola, Miho, Radivoy, Vukovo, Draja, Kagana, Secula, Lekko, Petko, Radi, Stoyan, Warrior, Guro, Radosov, German."

To the original church in 1830 was built an extensive annex extending the naos in the western direction, representing an extensive vaulted room of stones fused with mortar, with rectangular plan and two entrances from the west and south. The construction of the new part is documented with relief stone inscription carved under the niche of the western portal, which reads: "To know kugasae enjoined the temple of Saint Nicholas at the time Sultan Mahmoudovo Turkish kingdom 1830 senes."

In 1869 a new expansion of the church took place, where small spider buildings were erected to the western and southern sides, performing the function of nartex. These constructions were removed at the restoration in 1961. The last reconstruction was carried out by the candlestick of the church pop Stoyan Stamov in 1880. He cut out the wooden tensioners of the old church, which led to a rapid burst of the arch and carved a large prosthetic niche into the altar, which adorned with a naive image of the blessing Christ the Great Archer.

Walls
The murals of the 16th century were performed in two stages.

The murals of the first stage were written immediately after the church was built on a clay pad. Several fragments of the scene are attached to them, which were preserved after the destruction of the wall during the expansion of the church in 1830, as well as the decorations of the apse horse, consisting of the images of the Virgin Mary Shirshaya and the composition of the sacrifice.

The rest of the church was written a few years later on a lime plaster.

The lower register of naosa (up to 2 m high) covers the eastern wall of the titoral inscription, along with the prosthetic niche below it in the north and St. Stephen's in the south. As a continuation of the sacrifice in the apse horse, on the south wall in the altar space follow the images of the saints Gregory the Gods, Vukol Smirnenski and Ilarion Muglinski, and on the north wall is the scene "The Vision of St