A new church, built almost entirely with private donations, opened Sunday in the Sofia "Levski" district.

The construction of the "Saint John Chrysostom" church began in 1995, but was completed just recently due to lack of funds, which have been collected mostly from the district's residents.

The church is currently sitting on bare land, but the Sofia municipality promised to provide a brand new parking lot.

The Sofia Mayor Boyko Borisov was present at the official inauguration ceremony Sunday.

"Two districts are going to benefit from the new church. The project has been in existence for 16 years. Last year we put forward all possible effort to see it completed. Our next project is the adjacent area. We will have here, by Easter, a new park and a parking lot," Borisov promised.

The Sofia Mayor further said that he had given another ten plots in the capital for new churches to be built.

"I did it so that they do not accuse us that mosques have been built somewhere. Here, Bulgarians are erecting churches, and I am doing just that," the Mayor said.

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