The most impressive monument from the Bulgarian National Revival period rises amidst the rugged beauty of the Rila Mountains, just 120 km from Sofia. Having survived the times with the self-confidence of the most zealous 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 kitchens 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, jewellery, carpets and wrought iron objects, and a library containing more than 16,000 books. Rila Monastery is included in the UNESCO List of World Heritage.

BACHKOVO MONASTERY

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, jewellery, coins and church plate. 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 the 11 th and 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 (I 840), which contain some of the first murals painted by the celebrated National Revival artist Zahari Zograph.

ALADJA MONASTERY

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 colored 13th-14th century frescoes are still discernible on its walls.

DRIANOVO MONASTERY

The Drianovo Monastery is located in the Stara Planina mountain near veliko Turnovo.The monastery was founded in the XIth century.It was two times destroyed by the ottomans and was built for a third time in the XVIIth century.The Archangel Mihail Church , which was built in 1845 can be seen today.The rest buildings, which belong to the monastery, are built later.

ROJEN MONASTERY

The Rojen monastery is an ancient architectural record situated in the south-west side of the Pirin mountain. It was built in the XIVth cent. The church that can be seen today is reconstructed and painted in 1732. The wall-paintings, the icons and the wood-carving of the iconostasis are remarkable. They are a masterpiece of the famous school of Debur, notable for its complicated composition and the great number of figures of people and animals.

TROYAN MONASTERY

The Troyan Monastery "St. Holy Virgin" National tourist object. Founded in 1600. The present monastery was built in 1835. Mural paintings made by the famous Zahari Zograph and Dimiter Zograph. Museum collection that keeps early printed books, scripts and icons.

A chronicle dates back the foundation of the monastery in the year 1600; nothing but the throne stone of the church remains from that time. The Troyan Monastery belongs comple- tely to the Bulgarian National Revival period. 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 become a citadel of the 1876 April Uprising. Fortunately, most of the great works of 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 carving of the holy altar gates in the St. Nikola Chapel.

The Troyan Monastery, is known for the cre- ative work of Zahary Zograph who painted both the exterior and interior of the main church (a rare practice for the time) built in 1835. Besides, he painted a completely secular group portrait of the monastic brotherhood in the refectory - something highly unusual for the time. Here, Zahary Zograph repeated the social and moral "experiments" in religious painting ( the compositions Doomsday and the Wheel of Life), left his second self-port- rait signed with amazing self confidence in spite of the Ottoman bondage, and painted the figures of Bulgarian and Russian saints. Particularly valua- ble among the multitude of manuscripts and inco- nabula are the so-called Troyan Homilies of 17th century. The monastery's "printery" in which fine graphic works, including many landscapes, were made, was widely known.

CHEREPISH MONASTERY

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 covers 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.

IVANOVO ROCK MONASTIRY

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.

KILIFAREVO MONASTIRY

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.