Church of the Assumption — Orthodox church, South Coast

Unknown

Plan your visit

This is the Roman Catholic parish church of 1937, usually called Deva Maria Bogoroditsa; Burgas has a second, Eastern-rite Catholic church a few streets away.

Time needed: 15–30 min
Admission: free; donations expected
Typical hours: Mon–Fri 08:30–20:00; Sat 08:30–15:00
Setting: Indoor & outdoor

Not recorded: Wheelchair, Toilets, Parking

Open all year; the patronal feast is 8 September

Open data gives weekday hours of 08:30–20:00 and Saturday 08:30–15:00, but nothing for Sunday, which is when Mass is said. Treat it as open through the day and go in the morning.

Hours, as recorded in open data

Mon–Fri 08:30–20:00; Sat 08:30–15:00

Mo-Fr 08:30-20:00; Sa 08:30-15:00

Last checked Sep 17, 2026

Directions

42.49229, 27.47512

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Worth a detour

A single-nave basilica built in 1936 and 1937 to a design by Svetoslav Slavov, then the city architect of Burgas, and consecrated in September 1937. It is an active Roman Catholic parish in the Sofia–Plovdiv diocese, run by Capuchins again since 2004. Fifteen minutes, free, and a corrective to the assumption that this coast is only Orthodox.

Story

Background

The Catholic parish in Burgas was formally established in 1857 under Capuchin administration, and its first church was finished in 1888. The present building replaced it: the foundation stone was laid in May 1936, construction was supervised by a master builder from Gabrovo, and Bishop Vikenti Peev consecrated it on the twelfth of September 1937. The feast day is the eighth of September.

Svetoslav Slavov, the architect, was the city architect of Burgas in the period when the town was filling out its centre, and his hand is on several of the buildings a visitor will walk past. The church is a single nave with a single apse, restrained, and sized for a congregation rather than for effect.

The confusion worth clearing up is that Burgas has two Catholic churches of different rites within a few hundred metres. This one is Roman Catholic. The other, the Eastern-rite Greek Catholic church of the Dormition, is on Sheynovo Street in the Vazrazhdane quarter and belongs to the Apostolic Exarchate of Sofia; sources give its date as either 1907 or 1918 and cannot agree, and the official tourism portal manages to describe it as Orthodox, which it is not. Guides and databases mix the two up constantly, and the coordinates are the only reliable way to tell which one you are being sent to.

What this kind of place is

Orthodox church

An Eastern Orthodox church. Inside, the nave is separated from the altar by an iconostasis — a screen of icons in fixed ranks — and there are usually few or no seats, because Orthodox services are stood through. Shoulders and knees covered; photography is often allowed outside services but flash almost never is, and the rule is worth checking at the door rather than after.

From open data