In Bulgaria, Nikulden is an important winter holiday that every December 6 remembers St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, master of the underwater world and patron saint of sailors and fishermen.
Plovdiv, located in the south part of Bulgaria, is this country’s second largest city, and the oldest continuously inhabited city in Europe. Plovdiv was recently ranked among the continent’s top three destinations, and in 2019 will be Europe’s designated capital of culture.
History, religion, and culture converge at St. Nicholas the Wonderworker temple in Plovdiv, a recently completed basilica that represents the first time in Bulgaria’s long history that a temple’s construction included raising a single-nave metal dome.
Hristo Hristov, Project Manager for HMC, the construction firm that financed this project and was its general contractor and mechanical engineer, tells BD+C that the 213.6-sm (2,299-sf) building required a complex steel structure that would be flexible enough to withstand earthquake conditions, to which this part of the world is susceptible. The steel, however, is significantly lighter than building materials that have typically been used for temple construction in Bulgaria, he states.
Hristov adds that the building’s flooring was produced from four different kinds of granite.
The 22-meter-high temple is topped with the metal dome, made at HMC’s factory, that’s 5.5 meters high, 10.7 meters in diameter, and weighs 12 tons.
The history of this project, whose start and completion span from December 2010 through May 2015, “lies in a coincidence,” explains Hristov. HMC’s owner, Kiril Vasilev, was on a business trip in the Ukraine city of Nikolaev, where he happened upon, and subsequently became fascinated by, the temple of St. Nicholas there. “From that moment, Mr. Vasilev felt a strong urge to create a reproduction” in Plovdiv, says Hristov.
Based on a proposal from the Metropolitan Bishop of Provdiv Nikolay, the temple was designed and constructed 2.5 times larger than the original.
The temple is designed in the traditional Russian style, with pale yellow façade and white decorations. The primary dome is blue with golden stars, and is surrounded by smaller golden domes.
Six bells were cast for the temple, ranging in size from 30 to 200 kilograms (66 to 441 pounds).
Next to the temple is a 24-meter-high clock tower that was part of this construction project. Two-meter-high, gold-plated crosses on the tops of the tower and domes were made in the workshop of Kiev Pechersk Lavra, a historic Orthodox Christian monastery in Ukraine.
Arkont-A was the architect and structural, electrical, and plumbing engineer on the temple and tower project.
The blue dome is surrounded by smaller golden domes. Image: HMC Construction
The temple was designed as a traditional Russian style. Six bells, weighing from 66 to 441 pounds, were cast for the church. Image: HMC Construction
Related Stories
| May 24, 2012
2012 Reconstruction Awards Entry Form
Download a PDF of the Entry Form at the bottom of this page.
| Dec 7, 2011
ICS Builders and BKSK Architects complete St. Hilda’s House in Manhattan
The facility's design highlights the inherent link between environmental consciousness and religious reverence.
| Sep 30, 2011
BBS Architects & Engineers completes welcoming center at St. Charles Resurrection Cemetery
The new structure serves as the cemetery's focal architectural point and center of operations.
| Mar 11, 2011
Chicago office building will serve tenants and historic church
The Alter Group is partnering with White Oak Realty Partners to develop a 490,000-sf high-performance office building in Chicago’s West Loop. The tower will be located on land owned by Old St. Patrick’s Church (a neighborhood landmark that survived the Chicago Fire of 1871) that’s currently being used as a parking lot.
| Feb 11, 2011
BIM-enabled Texas church complex can broadcast services in high-def
After two years of design and construction, members of the Gateway Church in Southland, Texas, were able to attend services in their new 4,000-seat facility in late 2010. Located on a 180-acre site, the 205,000-sf complex has six auditoriums, including a massive 200,000-sf Worship Center, complete with catwalks, top-end audio and video system, and high-definition broadcast capabilities. BIM played a significant role in the building’s design and construction. Balfour Beatty Construction and Beck Architecture formed the nucleus of the Building Team.
| Feb 11, 2011
Texas megachurch inspired by yesteryear’s materials, today’s design vocabulary
The third phase of The First Baptist Church of Pasadena, Texas, involves construction of a new 115,000-sf worship center addition. Currently in design by Zeigler Cooper, the project will include a 2,500-seat worship center (with circular layout and space for a 50-person orchestra and 200-person choir), a 500-seat chapel (for weddings, funerals, and special events), and a prayer room. The addition will connect to the existing church and create a Christian Commons for education, administration, music, and fellowship. The church asked for a modern design that uses traditional materials, such as stone, brick, and stained glass. Construction is scheduled to begin this summer.
| Jan 20, 2011
Worship center design offers warm and welcoming atmosphere
The Worship Place Studio of local firm Ziegler Cooper Architects designed a new 46,000-sf church complex for the Pare de Sufrir parish in Houston.
| Dec 17, 2010
Toronto church converted for condos and shopping
Reserve Properties is transforming a 20th-century church into Bellefair Kew Beach Residences, a residential/retail complex in The Beach neighborhood of Toronto. Local architecture firm RAWdesign adapted the late Gothic-style church into a five-story condominium with 23 one- and two-bedroom units, including two-story penthouse suites. Six three-story townhouses also will be incorporated. The project will afford residents views of nearby Kew Gardens and Lake Ontario. One façade of the church was updated for retail shops.
| Nov 3, 2010
New church in Connecticut will serve a growing congregation
Tocci Building Companies will start digging next June for the Black Rock Congregational Church in Fairfield, Conn. Designed by Wiles Architects, the 103,000-sf multiuse facility will feature a 900-person worship center with tiered stadium seating, a children’s worship center, a chapel, an auditorium, a gymnasium, educational space, administrative offices, commercial kitchen, and a welcome center with library and lounge.
| Aug 11, 2010
JE Dunn, Balfour Beatty among country's biggest institutional building contractors, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 50 Institutional Contractors based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
