The Church of St. Nedelya in the Raykovo district is one of the most important monuments reflecting the rich historical past of the former village of Raykovo, now a district of the town of Smolyan. This religious hearth was created in the nineteenth century and during its long historical period it has kept fateful events. The Church of St. Nedelya is located at the southern end of the quarter, above the left bank of the river. The church is located on the right bank of the Black River. For the construction of the temple a ferman was needed, with the acquisition of which were entrusted two prominent noblemen of Raikov, Niko Kojebashyata – an iron-worker-armorer and Savo Sarandaliata – a bard.
After much effort they managed to procure trusses for eight churches: two in Raykovo and one each in Ustovo, Gorno Dereköy (now Momchilovtsi), Dolno Dereköy (now Sokolovtsi), Karlukovo (now Slaveyno), Petkovo and Levochevo. The farmers required that the churches be built on the site of an old chapel. The work on the construction of the church in Raikovo began immediately under the leadership of the two first masters, Harit and Valko Kissovi. The construction went quickly with the massive participation of the whole population and supported by the local feudal lord from Pashmakli (now a district of Smolyan) Salih Aga.
Building material – stone, sand, beams – was supplied from nearby. Slabs for the roof were supplied from the rhyolite rocks of Karamanja (now Murgavets) and Kaynadina. All the freight cattle were harnessed to the work. Women filled sandbags and carried stones to the builders. Thus, by July 7, 1836, the church was built and consecrated by the Xanthi Greek bishop Cyril.
The Church of St. Sunday is a three-aisled pseudo-basilica with a single altar apse. The ferman precisely defined its dimensions, the number and size of the windows, the thickness of the walls. The roof is hipped with three low stone crosses. Below the roof cornice there are three windows with an enlarged cruciform shape.
The church and the whole courtyard are covered by a 5-6 m high wall. The corners of the wall remain intact today and four of them are carved with the year 1836. There is a small building in the courtyard, built in 1892. The lower ground floor is an ossuary and the upper is a small parlour. In the churchyard there are several memorial plaques – expressions of gratitude to tsarist and enlightenment figures of Raykovo’s past. The Church of St. Nedelya” was registered as a monument of culture on 26.01.1955. It preserves some ancient church paraphernalia. It can be said with full right that St. Nedela” has played an important role in the preservation of the Bulgarian identity in the Middle Rope region.
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