The Bachkovo Monastery, the second largest in Bulgaria, founded in 1083 by the Georgian in Byzantine service Grigoriy Bakuriani and his brother Abbasiy, is a unique combination of Armenian-Georgian, Greek and Bulgarian Orthodox culture.
For a long time, tradition indicated that a holy man was buried under the altar of the “Saint Archangels” church. It is assumed that it was there that the last Bulgarian patriarch, Evtimii Turnovski, finally found rest.
The ossuary of the monastery is the only preserved building from the 11th century. the two-story building, built in 1601, is the old monastery kitchen /magernitsa/, and next to it is the dining room with a preserved wonderful fresco gallery from the 17th century. The “St. Nicholas” temple was painted by Zahari Zograf, who for about two years painted scenes with over 600 images. The main church of the monastery, “Holy Assumption”, due to its monumentality and unusual architectural solution for the beginning of the 17th century, is a unique Bulgarian monument.
It is in it that the miraculous icon of the Holy Virgin, donated by Georgian pilgrims in 1311.
For more than 350 years, on the Monday after Easter, she was taken from the monastery to the area of Kluvia, where she was hidden during the Ottoman slavery.
Legend claims that in the 17th century she was accidentally found there and returned to the monastery, from where several times it mysteriously disappeared and returned among the rocks. Her “escapes” stopped after a special altar was made for her. It is widely believed that sick people who touch her get well. Another lithium procession to ward off disease and calamity is held on the 25th day after Easter.
Some of the pilgrims spend the night in the Church of the Holy Virgin of the Annunciation in Asenovgrad, and the next day they take the icon of the Mother of God and take it to the Bachkovo Monastery.
Work time:
Winter opening hours: 07:00-19:00
Summer opening hours: 07:00-20:00
Contacts:
Tel: +359 3327 22 77
Tel: +359 889 278 583
