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MONASTERIES, CHURCHES
The
Boyana Church is a medieval Bulgarian Orthodox
church situated on the outskirts of Sofia, the capital
of Bulgaria. The edifice comprises three buildings
built in the 10th, the 13th, and the 19th centuries,
respectively.
The church owes its world fame to its frescoes from
1259. They form a second layer over the paintings
from earlier centuries and represent one of the most
complete and well preserved monuments of Eastern European
mediaeval art. A total of 89 scenes with 240 human
images are depicted on the walls of the church. The
painter is anonymous, but is possibly from the Tarnovo
Art School.
A
total of 18 scenes in the narthex depict the life
of Saint Nicholas. The painter here drew certain aspects
of contemporary lifestyle. In The Miracle at Sea,
the ship and the sailors' hats recall the Venetian
fleet. The portraits of the patrons of the church
- Kaloyan and his wife Desislava, as well as those
of Bulgarian tsar Constantine Tikh and tsaritsa Irina,
are thought to be among the most interesting and lifelike
frescoes in the church.
The
monument was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List
in 1979.
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The
Rozhen Monastery is the biggest monastery
in the Pirin Mountains in southwestern Bulgaria. It
is one of the few medieval Bulgarian monasteries well
preserved until today. According to sources from Mount
Athos, it was built in 890. A couple of new buildings
were constructed in the monastery at the time of Despot
Slav. It was devastated by fire in the 17th century,
but restored during the next century with the financial
help of rich Bulgarians from the whole country. The
reconstruction began in 1715 and was fully finished
in 1732. |
The
monastery reached its apogee in the 19th century,
when it was a regional centre of Orthodox Christianity
and owned a lot of land in the area. Famous Bulgarian
revolutionary Yane Sandanski's grave is located near
the monastery.
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The
Dryanovo Monastery is a functioning Bulgarian
Orthodox monastery situated in the Andaka River Valley
in the central part of Bulgaria, 5 km away from the
town of Dryanovo. It was founded in the 12th century,
during the Second Bulgarian Empire, and is dedicated
to Archangel Michael. Twice burnt down and pillaged
during the Ottoman rule of Bulgaria, the monastery
was restored at it present place in 1845. It was the
site of several battles during the April Uprising
of 1876.
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The
Sokolski Monastery was built in 1834, while
its inside and outside wallpaintings were finished
in 1862 by a priest, Pavel, and his son Nikolay. The
entire monastery, including its fresco, has been recently
restored with financial assistance from the EU. The
iconostasis was also completed in 1862 by masters
of the Tryavna school of icon-painting, while the
church’s main icon was painted by the renowned Gabrovo
icon-painter Hristo Tsokev. It is believed that the
icon of the God’s Mother with the Son, put in a small
icon-stand in the left part of the church is wonder-working. |
The
entire monastery complex was finished during Bulgaria’s
Renaissance period with the help of donations by Gabrovo
citizens and residents of nearby villages. A valuable
architectural monument can be seen in the middle of
the monastery’s yard – a big round-shaped fountain,
built by the famous master Kolyu Ficheto that still
shines with its beauty.
In
1836, a religious school, in which the renowned teacher
Neofit Bozveli taught for a while, opened its doors
in the monastery. As its is the case with many other
monasteries, the Sokolski cloister was closely connected
with the liberation struggle of the Bulgarian people.
In 1865, the flag of the detachment of Captain Dyado
Nikola was consecrated here, while on the first of
May 1876 the monastery served as a starting point
for the Gabrovo participants in the April uprising,
led by Tsanko Dyustabanov. From its establishment
until 1959, the monastery was inhabited by monks,
while after the illegal destruction of the Gabrovo
female monastery its nuns were moved here, transforming
it into a female one. Since 1968, the northern part
of the monastery hosts a beautiful chapel with icons
of Jesus Christ and the God’s Mother with the Son,
painted by the big master Zahari Zograf. |
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