The Old Metropolitan
The Old Metropolitan, 10th – 17th century AD, is the largest and most representative temple of Medieval Sozopol. The three-nave basilica, with its measures of 28 x 14,5 m, is a katholicon of the city monastery – the residence of the bishops of Sozopol. North to the walls of the church are attached two rooms with household functions. Best preserved is a granary with hydrophobic coating, 11th – 14th century AD. In this part of the complex a cistern, from the end of 5th – 6th century AD, was discovered. А Baptistery, found south of the temple, under nowadays church “St. George”, is connected with the functioning of the basilica.
The excavations revealed numerous marble architectural details, fragments of murals and mosaics, which testify of the important role and richness of the Christian complex. A necropolis has also been found in the context, of which more than 500 graves have been studied. Below the level of the basilica are registered remains of residential buildings and water supply installations, dated to the 5th – 2nd century BC. In front of the central entrance of the church a temple in antis, from the Hellenistic period, is preserved. Numerous artifacts – Thracian, East Greek, black and red figure pottery – prove the occupation of the terrain, from the end of the 7th until the beginning of 1st century BC.
