Church St. George Kurbinovo

Both our French guidebook and our English guidebook were indicating that the key to open Saint George church was to be collected at a house in the village of Kurbinovo before driving up to the church, but they disagreed on the exact house where to ask for it. To preserve the reputation of these two very well-known Editors, we decided to ignore them and went directly to the church. This turned out to be a good option: the church is under huge restoration work (August 2022) and the two workers (who were having their coffee in the shadow of a nearby tree when we arrived at around 10 in the morning) were happy to let us in.

“Huge” means that the small church is completely covered by scaffolding, including a top cover while the wood roof is being replaced. From pictures, we knew already that this rural church, from the outside, just looks like standard buildings, without any adornment, windows, or bell tower: it is famous for its frescoes inside – so we were losing nothing. Even better, as the works go, temporary wood stairs and platforms have been built inside, so we could face and admire the different scenes from very close. Virgin Mary and angels in the apse, bishops dressed in black and white, Transfiguration, Dormition of Mary etc – and the most famous one, the Annunciation – archangel Gabriel on the left hand side of the apse, Mary on the right hand side. This fresco of …