The Memorial Temple of the Birth of Christ (Shipka)

Shipka, Bulgaria

Open to visitors

The interior is normally open, possibly ticketed.

Strollie cannot guarantee access — always check before you travel.

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The Memorial Temple of the Birth of Christ, commonly known as Shipka Memorial Church or Shipka Monastery, is a Bulgarian Orthodox church built near Shipka in Stara Planina between 1885 and 1902. Designed by Antoniy Tomishko in seventeenth-century Russian Revival style and overseen by architect Alexander Pomerantsev, the brick structure commemorates Russian and Bulgarian soldiers who died during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78. Officially opened on September 28, 1902, coinciding with the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Battles of Shipka Pass, the temple features a 53-meter bell tower whose bells—the heaviest weighing 12 tons—were cast from cartridges collected after the battles. Inside, thirty-four marble plates inscribe the names of Russian regiments and Bulgarian volunteers, while seventeen stone sarcophagi in the crypt hold the remains of the fallen. Proclaimed a national monument of culture in 1970, it stands as a memorial to those who liberated Bulgaria.