These are the stories you can open in the 3D view, each at its own numbered point on the model.
1The archbishop's church
This is St. Sophia, the cathedral of the Archbishopric of Ohrid. After the Byzantine conquest of 1018, Emperor Basil II reduced Tsar Samuel's patriarchate to an archbishopric, which lasted until 1767. St. Sophia was its cathedral until the Ottoman period. The building stands on an earlier church; most of what you see dates from the 11th century.
The long two-storey front was added by Archbishop Gregory, in 1313 and 1314 according to most accounts; Wikipedia says only the 14th century. Below runs an open arcade, above a gallery of openings divided by slender columns, with a band of blind arches between the floors. A tower closes each end: a smaller one to the north and a larger one to the south, crowned by a round drum.
Inside, the walls carry frescoes from the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries, counted among the most important Byzantine paintings of their time. The main cycle is usually dated to the years of Archbishop Leo, from 1037 to 1056, though this dating is not confirmed in our sources. The three apses at this end hold the sanctuary. Photography inside may not be allowed.
The Ottomans took Ohrid in 1395, and St. Sophia became a mosque. The frescoes were covered with plaster, which in the end helped to keep them. Accounts say the dome and the bell were taken down and a minaret was added; there is no minaret today. While the church served as a mosque, the cathedral of the archbishopric moved up the hill to the church of Peribleptos.
Ottoman rule: from 1395 to 1912
Minaret: added, later removed (details unverified)
The timber seats in front of the church belong to a summer stage. During the Ohrid Summer Festival concerts are held here and in the church itself, with the arcaded front as the backdrop. The courtyard is paved with large, irregular slabs of pale stone. You may know this view already: St. Sophia appears on the reverse of the 1,000-denar banknote.
From the north lawn the plan is easy to read. A tall nave runs east, lit by small windows high up, with lower aisles on either side. A tall block at the west end holds the narthex. Along the north side runs a colonnade under a lean-to roof. The walls are stone and brick in bands and patterns, the roofs red canal tiles.
Plan: nave and two aisles, narthex, three apses
Axis: about 78°, the apses face east-north-east (OSM)
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