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Monasteries

The Bulgarian monasteries - hiding human, warm and living rather than "divine" beauty behind their austere stone facades, still amaze with their magnificent architecture, unfading frescoes and murals, exquisite icons and wood-carvings, made by self-taught architects, builders and painters. The Bulgarian monasteries - during difficult and turbulent times they acted as centers of patriotism which helped to preserve national feelings and hopes of the Bulgarians.

This is one of the few preserved and accessible rock monasteries in Bulgaria, dating from the early Middle Ages and conforming to the hesychastic idea of silence, asceticism and moral perfection. Monastic cells and a small church have been dug into a sheer rock, 14 km from the city of Varna and close to the Black Sea resort of Golden Sands. Differently coloured 13th-14th century frescoes are still discernible on its walls.

There are two monasteries in the village of Arbanassi, 3 km from Veliko Turnovo - St.Nikola and Holy Virgin. Between the 16th century and its tragic devastation two centuries later the village - one of the wealthiest in pre-liberation Bulgaria, boasted a the work of skilled masters from different parts of the country. St. Nikola Monastery was part of the widespread religious construction under the Assen dynasty, the founders of the Second Bulgarian State. Its artistic and historical value lies above all in the surviving murals in the St. Elija Chapel, probably dating from 1716: a monumental figure of Christ the Great Archangel, 12 scenes from the Holy Akathistos, and 6 scenes from the life of Christ. The effective coloring and rich palette, the confidences in the portrayal of the human figures, the unusually varied architectural decoration reveal the hand of a master from a superior and more erudite school. The filigree wooden iconostasis in the chapel, with its delicate and exquisite decorations, is valuable treasure and exquisite decorations, is valuable treasure. Though situated in the same village, the Holy Virgin Monastery suffered a different, though no less tragic fate. It is not known how it survived the attacks in 1393. What has remained of them warrants the assumption that they were also painted by traveling artists - highly paid at the time, but quite affordable by the wealthy inhabitants of the village of Arbanassi. At the Holy Virgin Monastery too, the Tryavna School has left valuable icons behind.

One of the oldest monasteries in the Bulgarian lands, it rises in the picturesque Chaya river valley, 29 km south of Plovdiv. Founded in 1083, Bachkovo Monastery is chiefly known for its original architecture, rich collections of old icons, jewelry, coins The library preserves many valuable incunabula and old manuscripts. Its most remarkable feature, however, are the paintings that are seen everywhere - in the church and ossuary, where the figure of the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Alexander is discernible among t 14th century murals, in the refectory (1601), in the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin main church (1604), and in the Holy Trinity and St. Nicholas church (1840), which contain some of the first murals painted by the celebrated National Revival artist Zahari Zograph.

History links the name of Sophronius of Vratsa also with another monastery quite remote from the Kapinovo one - the Cherepish Monastery. Like all other Bulgarian monasteries, it also rises above a river - the Iskar, more precisely in its pass through the Balkans. Throughout centuries, it was inhabited by men of letters, translators and calligraphers who have left us with such valuable works as the Cherepish Gospel of the 16th century, bound in 1512 with gold cover and depicting scriptural scenes; the Gospel of the Monk Danail, Jacob's Book of Apostles (both dating from the 17th century), and the Margarit collection of sermons and precepts compiled by Priest Todor of Vratsa in 1762. The approximate date of the monastery's emergence is certified in wilting: a deed recorded between 1390 and 1396 is kept today at Sofia's Church Historical and Archaeological Museum. Some of the murals in the old church were possibly painted about the mid-19th century by Tryavna artists, but are badly damaged. The loss is somewhat compensated by the skilfully carved iconostasis and bishop's throne.

Dryanovo Monastery

In existence as early as in the Second Bulgarian Kingdom, it was subsequently destroyed and re-built on two occasions. It was restored in its present location - in the Dryanovo River gorge, 4 km away from the town of Dryanovo - in 1845. During the 1876 April Uprising an armed detachment of 200 men who, pursued by the enemy, found shelter behind the walls of Dryanovo Monastery. Throughout nine days, they engaged in fierce battle before being crushed: the insurgents and monks were killed, the monastery burned to the ground. Relics of the April epopee are preserved in the monastery museum today, along with some valuable icons.

Located in almost a cosmic landscape - rock massifs, enveloping the picturesque river valley near the city of Rousse. As if striving to be closer to God, hermit monks settled here during the 11th - 14th century, digging cells, churches and chapels into the rocks. Talented artists painted them with realistic frescos, exquisite in color and composition, and turned them into a treasure trove of Bulgarian mediaeval painting.

The church of the Kapinovo Monastery, near the town of Elena, features an inscription of the year of its foundation on the cornice above the altar: 1272, under Constantine the Quiet's rule. Following repeated destructions and restorations of the monastery, the church was built in 1835 by two self-taught masters from Dryanovo.

The Kilifarevo Monastery has gone down in the annals of Bulgarian history as the "Second University of Mediaeval Bulgaria", following that of Clement of Ochrid's large School in Ochrid. It was founded between 1348 and 1350 upon the order of Tzar Ivan Alexander, 12 km south of Turnovo, for the purpose of providing shelter for the Hesychast and hermit Theodossius of Turnovo, a man of letters and an enlightener roaming the Bulgarian lands at the time. The monastery soon gathered writers, philologists, translators and calligraphers alongside with clergymen who spread Hesychasm, theologians and philosophers. Liturgical books and Byzantine chronicles were translated, volumes were compiled of the lives of Bulgarian, Serbian and Greek saints, and sermons were written against the different and numerous heresies. The most remarkable work of art here is again in the chapel: the old carved iconostasis, probably the work of Tryavna masters, fashioned with great imagination, seen above all in the figures of mythical monsters and beasts, with great sculptural talent, manifesting at the same time a perfect measure for decorativeness. Kilifarevo Monastery repeatedly restored and reconstructed, has a complete, harmonious appearance, blending with the enviroment, which ranks it among the finest architectural ensembles of the Bulgarian National Revival period.

It was founded during the 14th century, again probably due to Tzar Ivan Alexander, when 14 monasteries known as the "Sofia Mount Athos", were erected around Sofia. Destroyed in 1332, it was among the first monasteries to be restored later - in 1493 the buildings were restored, and St. George's Church erected, the sole survivor today. On the outside, the church is small and insignificant, like all the "semi-legal" buildings of those dark times. As compensation, the murals (partially preserved today) turned the interior into a glittering gallery. The spirit is here alive of the aristocratic Turnovo School. The coloring is respectfully solemn, the drawing elegant, to the point of exquisiteness, the figures are lofty and exalted. The artists of the Kremikovtsi Church were no blind imitators of traditional methods. In the overall composition of the murals, they introduced a new element, which renewed the art of the time, and became traditional. This is the richly ornamented frieze of the waist-length figures of saints and martyrs, introduced for the first time, which separated the "classic upright saints" from subject scenes diversifying and enriching the general picture. Kremikovtsi Monastery also contains some valuable examples of calligraphic art, which was particularly perfected here during the 15th century, when the Sofia School of Literature was created and developed at Dragalevtsi, Kremikovtsi, Kokalyane, German and other monasteries. The so-called Kremikovtsi Gospel is an example of it.

The masterpiece of another age, of other principles in architecture and art, is the Preobrazhenski Monastery, erected 7 km from Veliko Turnovo in one of the pictureque gorges of the Yantra River. A world of much sun and vivacity greets up here. It was burned to the ground when the capital of the Second Bulgarian State was taken; centuries had pass before life was reinstated here, on the top of the ruins. The monastery started its second existence only in 1825. A part of the building and the Holy Virgin Church were erected - a revival of the late 14th century Athos type of architecture, an absolute exception from the ideas and construction principles of the National Revival period. Construction of the second church - The Transfiguration - started in 1832. The famous architect of the Bulgarian National Revival, Kolyo Ficheto, embarked on the construction of the new church. He created one of the supreme examples of Bulgarian Baroque - a cruciform, three - apside and domeshaped building. The Preobrazhenski Church was painted by Zahary Zograph. Some of the icons were also painted by him, others - by Stanislav Dospevski.

The most impressive monument from the Bugarian National Revival period rises amidst the rugged beauty of the Rila Mountain, just 120 km from Sofia. Having survived the times with the self-confidence of the most zealo guard of the Bulgarian spirit and language, it still fascinates present-day visitor with the pure and harmonious line of the buildings' exquisite colonnades, arches and vaults, spacious rooms richly decorated with murals and fretwork. The monastery's most treasured historic and artistic monuments include the 14th century Hrelyo Tower, the five-domed Birth of the Blessed Virgin Church and the original monastery kitchen from the 19th century. The monastery also houses a rich museum collection of valuable old manuscripts and documents, charters and icons, an ethnographic exhibition of fabrics, jewelry, carpets and wrought iron objects, and a library containing more than 16,000 books.

Situated far to the south in the Pirin area, 6 km from Melnik, this is the only monastery restored during the first centuries of Ottoman rule, which has survived to this day. The present-day appearance of this old monastery (built by the Melnik ruler, despot Slav, during the 12th or 13th century) dates back to the 16th century. According to one inscription, the image of Christ Pantocrator together with the twelve apostles above the entrance gate of the Holy Virgin main church was painted in 1597. Valuable monuments of 17th century painting included the external southern wall (Doomsday, Jacob's Ladder), dated with an inscription from 1611, as well as scenes from the life of John the Baptist painted in 1622 in the ossuary. The inside walls in the naos, the narthex and chapel of the main church were painted in 1732, with a strong inclination for narration, as a result of which more than 150 subject-matters were illustrated. The abundance of figures of monks and hermits unknown anywhere else, many of them, probably historic personages, contemporaries of the unknown painter, are also typical. Rozhen Monastery owes its fame above all to its carved iconostases and lecterns. Some of them are extremely complicated compositions, both in intent and in actual execution, in which Biblical themes have given full scope to boundless imagination, which reached the peaks of decorativeness. Rozhen Monastery has left us with a treasure in yet another art - that of calligraphy. A unique work of the calligraphic school, which existed here as early as in the 14th century, is the manuscript "Interpretation of Jonah", taken in 1674 from the Constantinople Patriarch Dositheusm, and kept today in the Holy Grave Church in Jerusalem.

Part and parcel of our history is the Shipka Monastery, a symbol of an epoch-making event for Bulgaria - her Liberation from Ottoman rule, the final outcome of the 1877/78 Russo-Turkish War. The monastery, together with an impressive memorial church, was erected near the town of Shipka, near Kazanluk, below the famous Shipka Pass in the Balkan Range, where in the summer of 1877 the Russian troops and Bulgarian volunteers achieved the break-through, which brought about the victorious outcome of the war. The Russian and the Bulgarian people provided the means for its construction, which began in 1896 and was completed six years later. The Shipka Monastery is one of its exquisite, and at the same time monumental, "editions". Solemn elegance is also emanated by the carved and gilded iconostasis. It stands by no means estranged in the overall panorama of Bulgarian monasteries. Just like them, it is more than just a place of worship.

The Troyan Monastery is known above all for the creative work of Zahari Zograph who painted both the exterior and the interior (a rare practice for the time) of the main church built in 1835, 7 km from the town of Troyan. It is a fine example of the impact of the popular conception of the world and the influence of housing architecture on religious construction. Here, Zahari Zograph repeated the social and moral "experiments" in religious painting (the compositions Doomsday and the Wheel of Life), left his second self-portrait signed with amazing self confidence in spite of the Ottoman bondage, and painted the figures of Bulgarian and Russian saints. Besides, he painted a completely secular group portrait of the monastic brotherhood in the refectory - something highly unusual for the time. A chronicle dates back the foundation of the monastery in the year 1600; nothing but the throne stone of the church remains from the time. The Troyan Monastery belongs completely to the Bulgarian National Revival period. Eminent men of letters worked here during the mid-18th century, and a School was also founded. The patriotic mission turned into a tradition. In 1872, Vassil Levski set up here a secret revolutionary committee, which was joined by all the monks headed by the Father Superior Macarius. Four years later, the monastery became a citadel of the 1876 April Uprising. Fortunately, most of the great works of old and National Revival art have survived. The iconostasis of the main church made in 1839 is a masterpiece of woodcarving. Amazing in its originality, is the much earlier (1794) carving of the holy altar gates in the St. Nikola Chapel. The icons introduce us once again to the best-known National Revival artists: the Samoltovians Dimiter Zograph and Nikola Obrazopissov. Tryavna's Simeon Tsonyuv, Dossyu Koyuv, Koyu Tsenyuv, Theodossius Koyuv Vitanov. Particularly valuable among the multitude of manuscripts and

Completely different from both the official Byzantine style and the other official Turnovo School, are the architecture and painting of the Zemen Monastery, founded during the 14th century. It is located above the Strouma River, 76 km southeast of Sofia. A solid stone building, it was the only one to survive the monastery's ravaging and depopulation after Bulgaria's subjection to Ottoman rule. It was not restored until the 19th century. Such as it remains today, the Zemen church is an absolute exception to the whole of Bulgaria's mediaeval architecture: a cubic building, with three semi cylindrical upsides with equal height, reaching up to the roof cornice which unites them in a single group. The roof - a four-wall squashed pyramid with a cupola atop a cylindrical drum, decorated by two rows of blind arches - is unique in the entire Balkan Peninsula. The facades, which are broken up only plastically - by means of blind arches and lacking color effects - complete the harsh original appearance. A strange blend is achieved with the impact of the inside murals - also harsh, somewhat crude, as if deliberately archaic. With few parallels in contemporary painting, they continued the traditions of the pre-iconoclastic period in the Eastern Orthodox art. The Zemen master also had a particular weakness for folk-style details, which he skillfully depicted. All this makes this monastery a rare monument of original mediaeval folk art, of that marked trend in religious painting which Andrei Grabar called "democratic trend".