Kremikovsky monastery in Bulgaria, Vitosha resort
Rating: 7,9/10 (200 votes)  The Kremikovsky Monastery is one of the most valuable medieval cultural monuments of the Balkan Peninsula. The monastery is located 25 kilometers from the capital of Bulgaria - Sofia. According to legend, the monastery was founded during the reign of John Alexander. In 1382, after the capture of Sofia by the Turks, the monastery was destroyed. The first documentary evidence of the monastery dates back to 1493. At this time, boyar Rodiva restored the old church of St. George the Victorious, which he decorated in memory of his children who died in 1492 from an epidemic (in 1987 their burials were discovered in the church). The monastery complex consists of a new and an old church, and two residential buildings. The"old" church is a one-nave, domeless basilica, having an oblong shape. The church is decorated with murals from the 15th - 17th centuries. Images of the boyar Radiva and his family are in the narthex of the temple. Inside the room you can see frescoes illustrating the scenes of the Christmas stichera and the life of Gregory the Victorious. The"new" church, consecrated in honor of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos, was erected in 1902. Today it houses a wooden iconostasis, made in the 17th century, and the Kremikov Gospel of 1497. In the 17th - 18th centuries, the monastery housed one of the largest book shops in Bulgaria. In the middle of the 19th century the monastery was abandoned, but in 1879 the inhabitants reappeared here, which became the nuns who fled from Malashevtsy.  We also recommend reading Venetian fortress Fortetsa in Rethymno in Greece, resort of Crete Topic: Kremikovsky monastery in Bulgaria, Vitosha resort. |
