The Church of the Holy Seven disciples "

The legend goes that sultan Suleiman I the Magnificent, when going to a big battle in the Majar land (at present, Hungary) spent the night by the Sofia gates. He dreamt his success in a fortune-telling dream. On his way back, as a sign of gratitude for Allah, he ordered his great vizier to construct at the vision place a beautiful and big mosque that was assigned to the most famous Ottoman architect and constructor Kodja Sinan, for whom they used to believe he was of Bulgarian origin. Back in 1528 the mosque was ready. A madrasa (spiritual school) was constructed to it, as well as imaret (shelter) and patio for selling commodities. 
During an earthquake that happened in the XIX century, the black minaret of the mosque fell, yet soon the times were about to change, the Turks started gradually withdrawing from town and gradually the mosque became useless and instead of being repaired, it was abandoned. After the Liberation in 1878, the building and the constructions to it were turned into a warehouse, and later on – into a prison. The dark name stems from it, not from minaret’s black colour. The neighbourhood was inhabited by Christian Bulgarians that needed an orthodox temple. A decision was made not to destroy the beautiful and solid mosque building, but to reconstruct it into a church. A decision with quite influential opponents. On way or another, older stories had it that the mosque was built onto an old ancient monastery dating back to the V-VI century, devoted to Saint Ivan Rilski and constructed onto the land of Rila monastery, expropriated by the Turks. It was confirmed by the excavations. So, the project was approved and with little funding, a big church was constructed. The idea belonged to Petko Karavelov – a prominent public figure and former prisoner from the Black mosque cells. The idea for the name “Holy Seven disciples” belonged to him as well – these are the Bulgarian saint-educators Cyril and Methodius and their disciples Kliment and Naum, Sava, Gorazd and Angelariy. Relics of two disciples – Saint Kliment and Saint Gorazd are stored in a special wooden carved treasury box. Unfortunately, Karavelov died couple of months before the official opening. He was buried, upon his wish, in the church yard, behind the altar wall.
In 1903, the domes, bell-tower and the narthex were additionally constructed. The temple was ready and became operational as a Bulgarian orthodox church. In the 30-ies of the XX century a wall clock was built into the bell-tower – quite an out-of-the-box element for a Bulgarian church that is operational today. Made by a Bulgarian master, he studied the crafts in Switzerland, got back and created his own clock factory. At this time, the square in front of the church was cleared where the old buildings were eliminated and the beautiful garden was created.
Do not miss getting inside. The spirit of old times could be felt everywhere. The iconostasis is very special, with icons built into it, drawn by artists that were young at the time, made with the donations by the king and other famous personalities. The wall paintings were created for 70 years. The two big, abundant candlesticks were molded of material recycled from old police (guard) badges. The temple contains many exquisite wood-carvings too.