St. Cyricus Island ( bg, остров св. Кирик, ''ostrov sv. Kirik''), also known as St. Cyril Island or Sts.

Quiricus and Julietta Cyricus ( el, Κήρυκος, am, ቂርቆስ, arc, ܡܪܝ ܩܘܪܝܩܘܣ ܣܗܕܐ ''Mar Quriaqos Sahada''; also Cyriacus, Quiriac, Quiricus, Cyr), and his mother, Julitta ( el, Ἰουλίττα, am, እየሉጣ arc, ܝܘܠܝܛܐ, ''Yul ...

Island is a

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Mac ...

island An island or isle is a piece of subcontinental land completely surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be ...

in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, ...

, from

Sozopol Sozopol ( bg, Созопол , el, Σωζόπολη, translit=Sozopoli) is an ancient seaside town located 35 km south of Burgas on the southern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. Today it is one of the major seaside resorts in the country, known for the ...

's Stolets peninsula. It has an area of about and a height of . The island is connected to the continent by a road and a breakwater. Unlike most other Bulgarian Black Sea islands, its infrastructure is completely set up. The island was named after the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

Monastery of Sts. Quiricus and Julietta, the ruins of which still stand there. The monastery was subordinate to the major

stauropegic A stauropegion, also spelled stavropegion (from el, σταυροπήγιον from σταυρός ''stauros'' "cross" and πήγνυμι ''pegnumi'' "to affirm"), is a monastery or a parish which depends directly on the primate or on the Holy Syn ...

monastery on the nearby St. Ivan Island. In 1925-1926, a school for fishermen and sailors was built on the island, where only orphans were allowed to study. The school existed for 10 years. In 1936 its base was reorganized to accommodate the

Bulgarian Naval Academy Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy (NVNA) (Bulgarian: ''Висше Военноморско Училище "Никола Йонков Вапцаров", ВВМУ'') is the oldest technical educational institution in the Republic of Bulgaria. Its histo ...

. Until recently, the island was a restricted area, where

Bulgarian Navy The Bulgarian Navy ( bg, Военноморски сили на Република България, Voennomorski sili na Republika Balgariya, lit=Naval Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria) is the navy of the Republic of Bulgaria and forms part of ...

ships were anchored. St. Cyricus Island was demilitarized in the 2000s and is to become a centre of international maritime tourism. As it is a national cultural monument, its heritage will be preserved and the new buildings are required to match the characteristic style of Sozopol.

References

See also