Sofia Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Church - looks impressive. Is impressive. Though, like St Sava in Belgrade, it’s underwhelming. In St Sava’s case, this was because the building was unfinished, whereas the Alexander Nevsky doesn’t appear to have ANY FURNITURE. As a result, and despite both buildings’ oniony glory, neither whiff of the “real deal”, with their prized positions in their respective city’s list of attractions deserved only because of a lack of competition.
I visited the Alexander Nevsky Church early in the morning. It was cold, though I was forced into wearing sandals rather than my antisocial desert boots, which had oversoaked and, after a night’s relative heat and bacteria, were now deeply offensive and unstable. Wearing sandals gave me a moment’s pause on the church threshold as I had no idea if wearing them inside a holy place would be considered offensive. I didn’t fancy an English/Bulgarian/semaphore discussion, or resorting to trying to justify my footwear by miming Christ wearing similar footwear. I entered with a sense of extreme trepidation, as I’m hardly one to ignore social niceties or casually offer disrespect. Which couldn’t be said for other less considerate tourists, who’d breezed past numerous crimes against sartorialism and happily snapping (some of them) in full sight of ‘no camera’ signs. And using a flash.
Lack of furniture and respect aside, Alexander Nevsky church is impressive - if a little gloomy - and certainly worth a visit. It’s an excellent place to experience, appreciate and squirm out the squeak of rubber sandal on marble.
Outside, in a blowy scene recalling Buňuel, a tall, athletic Orthodox holy man who’d been tensely consulting with church officials inside the Alexander Nevsky church only moments earlier, brushed aside the attentions of a skilful, persistent beggar and swirled, cassocks and crucifixes, into a waiting limousine which whisked him to a place where presumably, he could better serve the Lord.
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