The Church of St. Nicholas Bolnicki

This church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, is located in the immediate vicinity of the Lower Gate. The attribute "Bolnicki" refers to the name of the quarter it is situated. The church is a one-naval in shape with a semi-calotte vault. There is a bell-tower in the western side of the church, unique in shape in the region of Ohrid.

An inscription discovered in the interior of the church revealed that it was built and fresco painted in 1313. Between 1335 and 1345 the outside southern wall was fresco painted. It is covered with portraits of the Archbishop of Ohrid Nicholas, the Serbian King Dusan, his wife Elena, and Ss. Sava and Simeon. In 1381 the second phase of fresco painting was performed, this time in the exterior wall of the western part of the church. In XV century a chapel paraklis??? was added onto the southern side of the church, and in some later time a porch was constructed in the western side of the church.

The historian of art, Kosta Balabanov, deems the frescoes in the southern part containing the royal family of Dusan are the greatest treasure of the church. The quality of the artist, or the group of artists, who portrayed them is highly distinguishable. More important compositions in the interior, according to Balabanov, are the scenes "The Ascend of the Virgin Mary", "The Entrance into Jerusalem", and "The Transfiguration", and of the figures painted in natural size those of St. Clement of Ohrid, St. Nicholas, and St. Pantheleimon.