"St Dimitar" church in the village of Patalenitza is one of the most significant medieval monuments of Bulgarian history. It dates back to late 12th century according to Prof. Atanas Bojkov (1970) who compared its murals with similar cultural monuments in Greece, Italy, Macedonia, etc. He highly estimated the value of these murals. This church is one of the well-saved churches with cross-shaped dome in Bulgaria that is very rare. Probably it was painted at the time of uplift and defense when locals fought for their religious and tribal rights.

In 1870 a book was published called "Geographical – historical – statistic description of Tatar Pazardjik district" by Stefan Zahariev. It says that on this place there was an older church – "St Panteleymon" which gave its name

to Patalenitza. He also mentioned other names of "St Dimitar" Church. "In a wood there is a church called "St Dimitar" – "St Kurkuleshtitza" founded by a duks Grigoriy Kurkua during the Greek rule" Then it continues "Nobody knows which saint was the church dedicated to. Villagers called it "St Kurkuleshtitza" that comes from Kurkua because a marble plaque was found there, saying that the founder of this old church could be a Byzantine notable" The sign of the plaque says: "Grigoriy, protosvatariy and duks of Plovdiv Kurkua in 1090 made it". As the name of the church and the time it was built, there is another information based on a legend. It tells that before Turkish invasion /14th century/ the church had been buried. So it was saved /"kurtulisala"/ which gave it the name "St Kurtuleshtitza" Time passed and on the place of the church a hill rose. We still keep the memory of the "discovery" of the church in the middle of 19th century. A peasant tied his donkey to a wild cherry tree growing on the hill. He saw a metal object coming from earth. He dug and saw a metal cross. Then people remembered the legend about the buried church. Master Petar Gagov led the excavations and it was discovered. In 1870 the building was reconstruc-

In 1956 the church was announced to be architectural and cultural monument with national importance and in 1971 after the investigation of its murals – to be a national-art-cultural monument.