Churches / St Athanasius – Dolno Dupeni
St Athanasius – Dolno Dupeni
About 1 km southwest of the Church of the Holy Mother of God stands the Church of St Athanasius. In the overgrown land around it you can make out the remains of building foundations and old graves. The interior of the nave and its south and north walls are covered with wall paintings. According to the inscription above the south entrance, on the inside, the paintings date from 1864. The same unknown masters also painted the walls of the altar area and the west part of the church, the narthex.
In many places, especially where pieces of the 19th-century paintings have flaked off, traces of an older layer of painting show through. This older layer most likely dates from the 17th century, judging by its style, and is most visible on the east wall of the altar area. The makeshift iconostasis is made up of icons from different periods: the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Most of the icons belong to post-Byzantine painting and can be linked to the older layer of wall paintings in the church.

