he St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (Bulgarian: Храм-паметник „Свети Александър Невски“, Hram-pametnik „Sveti Aleksandar Nevski“) is a Bulgarian Orthodox cathedral in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Built in Neo-Byzantine style, it serves as the cathedral church of the Patriarch of Bulgaria and it is believed to be one of the 50 largest Christian church buildings by volume in the world. It is one of Sofia’s symbols and primary tourist attractions.

The St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia occupies an area of 3,170 square metres (34,100 sq ft) and can hold 5,000 people inside. It is believed to be among the 10 largest Eastern Orthodox church buildings. It is the third largest Orthodox Cathedral located in Southeast Europe, being surpassed only by two new and not yet fully completed Cathedrals – the Romanian People’s Salvation Cathedral in Bucharest, and the Church of Saint Sava in Belgrade.^[4] It is believed that until year 2000 it was the largest finished Orthodox Cathedral.

The scale of this building will blow you away. Inside St. Alexander Nevski has room for 10,000 people and it’s the second largest cathedral in the Balkan region.

As with a great deal of Sofia’s grand architecture, the city’s cathedral dates to the 1880s.

This was directly after the Ottomans were overthrown and the state of Bulgaria was re-established.

It was originally dedicated to the Russian soldiers that lost their lives in the course of this liberation.

When you’re inside, look up at ceiling of the main cupola, which has a mural of the Lord God Sabbath.

The crypt here is open to visitors and has a big collection of icons.