accessing the nave from the north. In the past, the church featured a rectangular bell tower above the narthex, which was also part of the design of Nesebar's Church of St Paraskeva and Church of St Theodore. The entire plan of the Church of the Holy Archangels, including the position of the belfry, has much in common with the earlier Church of the Holy Mother of God at Asen's Fortress and the Chora Church in Constantinople. The bell tower was accessible via a stone stairway which stood in the western section of the nave. As customary for Nesebar's medieval religious architecture, the Church of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel boasts lavish external decoration in a style characteristic for the city. The church was built according to the opus mixtum technique using interchanging straight rows of brickwork and stones arranged in a chequered pattern. Three or four rows of bricks typically follow two rows of carved stones. The external walls feature elaborate connected blind arches, seven on the north and south walls and three on the west wall. The north and south walls also include semicircular pediments in the upper reaches. Each of these has three windows. Brick details and friezes of triple bands of coloured ceramic rosettes and circles inside the arches complete the exterior decoration of the church. References Churches in Nesebar Nesebar Nesebar Nesebar Nesebar