A 19th-century Bulgarian church in Edirne province was reopened yesterday after its dome was restored. Bulgarian officials, including the country's consul-general, attended the ceremony. A large crowd of the faithful from Istanbul and Edirne also joined foreign guests for the much-anticipated reopening.

The Sveti Georgi Church was built in 1880 while Edirne in northwestern Turkey was still home to a small Bulgarian community but religious services ended in 1951 as the Christian population declined. It was reopened in 2004 after extensive restoration and then closed again for further work on the building's historic dome.