The archaeological excavations of the cathedral church of St. Sophia, which is situated at the foot of the hilly part of Ohrid and close to the lake, show that it was built on the foundations of an Early Christian basilica. The church was reconstructed and decorated with frescoes at the time of Archbishop Leo, 1037-56. A unique gallery of paintings, relifs, and architecture created in the course of four decades, from the 11th to the 14th centuries, St. Sophia's church is one of the most important mediaeval monuments in Ohrid and indeed in the whole of Macedonia. Together with the cathedral church St. Sophia in Kiev, in Ukraine it contains the largest number of frescoes from the 11th century in the mediaeval art of Europe. The external appearance of St. Sophia which was for a long time the - cathedral church of the Archbishopric of Ohrid is in a shape of the - letter, "1" with a two- sided, steep and transversely joined roof. The church originally had a main cupola, side galleries and a large bell-tower, above the west facade, all of which were later destroyed. The two little domes above the outer narthex as well as the narthex itself and the first-floor gallery were built at the beginning of the 14th century. Today the church is a three-naved basilica with a triangular altar apse and semi-circular apses in the diaconcion and the prothesis. It is built with baked bricks and mortar and stone and mortar. Above the diaconi- con and the prothesis there are two small chapels from the Comnenus period in the 12th century. Later, the upper section of the narthex was built and at the same time in the middle of the 14th century the Chapel of St. John the Forerunner was built. The external narthex with its gallery on the west facade of the church was built in 1313 at the time of Archbishop Gregorius as is stated in an inscription in the bricks running the lengtn of the facade. It is considered to be a masterpiece of mediaeval architecture. The cathedral of St. Sophia has suffered great changes. It was the cathedral church of the Archbishopric of Ohrid for a long period, then it was converted into a mosque, then a storehouse. In 1912 it was again transformed into being church. As a result its of numerous adaptations and additions it suffered great damage. Immediately after the Second World War, extensive work was undertaken to preserve Sf. Sophia from further decay. In 1949, first the layers of mortar and whitewash were removed from the frescoes, which had been whitewashed by the Ottomans. At the same time, they were copied for the exhibition "The Mediaeval Art of the Peoples of Yugoslavia" which was held in Palais de Chaillot in Paris. The 11th century frescoes in St. Sophia belong to the best achievements of mediaeval art in the period of the Macedonian dynasty in Byzantium The best preserved frescoes are those in altar region which are the oldest ones and the most impressive. The interior has preserved little of its original splendour as a cathedral church and whitewash were removed from the frescoes and what was left of them is the most complete iconographic entity in a single cathedral church dating from the 11th century.
The altar apse is occupied by a huge figure of the Virgin Mary, and below it of the "Apostles Communion a scene appearing for the first time. The first zone of the altar space is decorated with Old Testament compositions. The south wall features a cycle of scenes from the life of Abraham. On the north wall opposite are the scenes: "Three Young Men in the Fiery Furnace", "Jacob's ladder", "Saint Basil Conducting a Liturgy" and "The Dream of SI. John the Divine". Above the friezes with five angels in each the vaulted ceiling of the altar space contains a representation of the "Resurrection". The oldest paintings in Sf. Sophia's are the work of several unknown fresco painters. The painting which had first appeared in monastic circles in the East had been adopted and nurtured in the Constantinopolitan workshops. It is thought that the home-town of the painters of St. Sophia's in Ohrid was Salonica.