CHURCH "ST. PARASKEVA ”VILLAGE OF BOŽENICA

The church "Sveta Paraskeva" is located on one of the last hills in the direction northeast of the village Bozenica, Botevgrad municipality. We draw the most reliable data on the history of the temple from scarce documents, names, dates, texts on tombstones, mouths, psalters, church archives and private individuals. The royal gates of the old church are in the National Archaeological Museum in Sofia, where they are registered with the ent. № 1175. They were donated to the museum by Hristo Georgiev from the city of Vratsa on April 4, 1911. The museum pays 40 levs for them. The old church was probably demolished and devastated at the end of the 18th century or the beginning of the 19th century from the invasion of Kardzhali. According to the legend, the village was attacked and burned twice, the second devastation was at the end of the eighteenth century. The present church is an elongated basilica building based on the east and west, without a narthex and a bell tower. It was built by the master Usta Stefan from the village of Mirkovo, Sofia region, and his son Nikola. They finished their work on March 12, 1834. The consecration was performed in 1834 by the priests from Vratsa and the priests from the Cherepish monastery. 1852 the church books of the church of the Goddess were bound in the monastery of Cherepish, with Joseph the bishop and the abbot. Interesting are the images of icons, some of which date from 1865. The church door and iconostasis are carved from end to end. Before the end of the 19th century. an additional bell tower was built in the courtyard. It has been declared a cultural monument of artistic value and local significance.