Icon Painter Ganka Pavlova Brings New Icons Inspired by Boyana Church to Bulgaria’s Antarctic Base

Icon painter Ganka Pavlova, in an interview for the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA), said she believes that there should be a part of Bulgarian faith wherever there are Bulgarians. "And in Antarctica this is a necessity, because the conditions here are far from easy," she added.

At the Bulgarian St Kliment Ohridski Antarctic base, there are currently two chapels. The newer one is decorated with a mural painted on site, while in the older one, icons modelled after the iconography of the Boyana Church near Sofia were hung on Sunday. Ganka Pavlova is the artist behind the iconography of both projects.

"We decided to bring it [the old chapel] back to life," Pavlova said, adding that she chose the iconography of the Boyana Church as inspiration because it is one of the oldest Bulgarian churches.

Photographs of the Boyana Church and a text, in Bulgarian and English, telling the history of the temple were hung in the chapel on Sunday, in addition to the new icons.

"That is the idea of all these texts we are providing, to make it clear to our foreign guests at the base what this is about: how old the Bulgarian state actually is, how old the Bulgarian Church is, and what possibilities our mural-painting tradition holds," Pavlova added.

The new icons in the old chapel depict the Virgin and the Child, St John of Rila, and St Nicholas. Pavlova explained that she chose St John of Rila because he is the patron saint of the Bulgarian Antarctic base.

"I chose the image that exists in the Rila Monastery church itself. I wanted to draw attention to the fact that they are harsher, more ascetic, and more spiritual, despite being schematic. They look thin and, to some extent, perhaps even tormented. But both images, that of St Nicholas and that of St John of Rila, actually carry the characteristics of the entire mural school from the time when the great frescoes were painted. Some of those frescoes were painted by an unknown artist who, in practice, left his name in only one single place, and even that was covered with plaster, so that it would remain a secret, closer to him personally, as an experience," Pavlova said.

She added that she chose to paint St Nicholas because he is the patron saint of all travellers, as, she emphasized, the Bulgarian Antarctic researchers truly are.

"And in order to create the feeling that one is in a chapel, it is essential to have the image of both the Virgin Mary and Christ. That is why I chose one of the central icons from the church itself, even though they are quite damaged there. I tried to make the images of the Virgin Mary and Christ more clearly visible, even though this is not a copy of either of the two images from the church. Through colour, line, and fewer details, I attempted to convey the characteristics of the mural school of that time," Pavlova explained.

She also spoke about the process of painting the murals in the new chapel.

"It was quite a great challenge, because the conditions here are not easy. But nevertheless, the fact that something worthy can be created anywhere is, I believe, proven by this temple as well," Pavlova said, adding that the construction and mural painting of the chapel began in 2011, marking 100 years since Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole, the first person to reach that point on Earth.

For three years, she spent several months at a time at the Bulgarian Antarctic base to complete the murals.

"Humidity has now turned out to be a problem, causing minor damage to the surface, but we will deal with that too. The weather here is merciless. Moisture and higher temperatures than in the past, all these conditions allow the formation of mould," Pavlova said, adding that while there is a solution for removing mould from the icons, there is no way to prevent it from appearing in the specific Antarctic conditions.

She emphasized that anyone who finds themselves in the conditions of Antarctica needs a place to go and open their soul without being seen.

“This is a space where anyone can go alone, light a candle, say a prayer if they wish, read the Bible, read the lives of the saints, or simply pray. All of this can be done without being disturbed by anyone,” Pavlova said, concluding that the chapels at the Bulgarian Antarctic base are a sacred, personal place for every Antarctic explorer.

The Bulgarian naval research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (RSV 421) departed for Antarctica from Varna (on the Black Sea) on November 7, 2025. After a month-long voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, the ship arrived at the Argentine naval base in Mar del Plata on December 13.

BTA has had a national press club on board the ship since 2022 and another on Livingston Island since February 2024. BTA Director General Kiril Valchev said they exist thanks to the generous support of RSV 421 and Bulgaria’s St Kliment Ohridski Base, which provide the necessary facilities. These two press clubs are added to the news agency’s other 41 national press clubs (33 in Bulgaria, seven abroad in neighbouring countries and in nations with large Bulgarian communities, and one mobile National Book Press Club).

The news items of BTA's special correspondents on RSV 421 and Antarctica are freely available in Bulgarian and English on the agency's website. They can be used free of charge by all media, with attribution to BTA. Valchev recalled that thanks to its correspondents, the news agency appears among the top results on Google when searching for the phrase “Antarctica correspondent”.