Carrying the Cross
Boyana Church, Bulgaria, 1259AD
Source: Frescos from Boyana church
Shields in: Miracle at Sea, Life of St. Nicholas, Boyana Church, Bulgaria, 1259AD
Source: Frescos from Boyana church
Referenced by 128. BULGARIAN CAVALRYMEN, 13th CENTURY, in Armies of Feudal Europe 1066-1300 by Ian Heath
Though bows and javelins were the main weapons of such light cavalry (the Bulgarians in the Nicaean Byzantine army that fought at Pelagonia, for instance, were described as horse-archers), the heavier-armed horsemen who constituted the retinues of the tsar and his boyars fought instead with lances and swords, figure 128, from a fresco in Boiana church dating to 1259, is typical of this latter troop-type, other frescoes showing long sleeves to the corselet plus, occasionally, mail coifs and some lamellar armour; note the Byzantine style of his equipment.
Boyana Church
Located on the outskirts of Sofia, Boyana Church consists of three buildings. The eastern church was built in the 10th century, then enlarged at the beginning of the 13th century by Sebastocrator Kaloyan, who ordered a second two storey building to be erected next to it. The frescoes in this second church, painted in 1259, make it one of the most important collections of medieval paintings. The ensemble is completed by a third church, built at the beginning of the 19th century. This site is one of the most complete and perfectly preserved monuments of east European medieval art.
UNESCO
