Bulgaria’s Culture Ministry announced that is has granted 70 000 leva for the making of an iconostasis at the restored Bulgarian church St St Konstantin and Elena in Edirne, Turkey. The iconostasis, which is to have 74 icons on it, is currently being crafted, the ministry said on September 4.

The total amount that Bulgaria has given to the church’s restoration, which started on January 7 2008, is 400 000 euro. On that date, Culture Minister Stefan Danailov explained that the church had been constructed over a six-month period in 1869, and that nearly 140 years later, it would again be like new in half a year’s time, the ministry wrote on its website. He was rather accurate, as renovation wrapped up in August, and all that is left to complete now is the garden area.

The restoration took place under the direction of Bulgaria’s Directorate for Preservation of Monuments of Culture and Directorate for Religious Freedom.

The church will be officially blessed on September 14, called “Krustovden” (Кръстовден) in Bulgarian, otherwise known as Holy Cross Day. It commemorates when, in the year 326, Saint Helena, mother of Roman Emperor Constantine I, found what was considered the true cross on which Jesus was crucified. The date of September 14 is the day on which the true cross was brought to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in 335 as part of the church’s dedication ceremonies.

In Bulgaria, Krustovden is observed by fasting and preparations for grape harvesting.