The gilded Eastern Orthodox cathedral at the heart of Sofia — completed in 1912 in honour of the 200,000 Russian soldiers who died freeing Bulgaria from five centuries of Ottoman rule in 1877–78. Italian marble, Egyptian alabaster, Brazilian onyx, twelve gilded domes, and a crypt containing the best collection of Orthodox icons in Bulgaria, ranging from ninth-century Sinai panels to nineteenth-century National Revival work.
The cathedral was designed by the Russian architect Alexander Pomerantsev (also responsible for GUM in Moscow). It seats 5,000 and serves as the seat of the Bulgarian Patriarch. Free to enter the church; modest fee for the crypt. Modest dress required.