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Bulgarian Church in Istanbul visited by over 300,000 in two years

Photo: BGNES

More than 300, 000 people have visited the Bulgarian iron church St. Stephen in Istanbul over the past two years. According to the chairman of the Bulgarian Churches in Istanbul Foundation Vasil Liaze, at least half of the visitors at the church are tourists from Bulgaria. 

After seven years of restoration work, the 120-year old church opened doors on 7 January, 2018. The ceremony was attended by Bulgarian PM Boyko Borissov and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. 

The question of putting the iron church on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list was raised several times last year. The proposal for this was also presented to UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay during her visit to Bulgaria. 





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