Rila Monastery

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Rila Monastery

General Information


Image of Rila Monastery
Type:
Adventure
Price from:
20 EUR /person
Phone:
+359888510675
Payment Types:
  • No Cash
  • No Credit Card
  • No Cheque
  • No Travellers cheque
  • No Paypal
  • No Wire Transfer
Location Start:
Sofia
Location Finish:
Sofia
Start time:
09.00 am
End time:
05.00 pm
We Speak:
Russian, German, French, English, Greek
Toursrequestform

Last updated: 06/17/2008

1 day tour from Sofia to Rila Monastery - Sofia.

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Image of Rila Monastery Image of Rila Monastery

Extra Information

Extras -
The monastery was founded by Ivan Rilski (John of Rila) in the 10th century as a colony for hermits. It has been destroyed by fire, and abandoned by the monks. Its present place, 119 km south of Sofia, is the one in which it stood during the 14th century, when the protosebast Dragovol Hrelyo settled in the monastery as an independent ruler. In 1335 he built the five storey defence tower, topped by the Transfiguration Chapel, fragments of whose murals can still be seen today. By the end of 14th century, the Rila Monastery had turned into a powerful feudal entity with many villages, lands and properties. Tsar Shishman alone, the last Bulgarian ruler, donated it over twenty villages in different districts. The monastery's unquestionable authority influenced the Turkish sultanates who confirmed the rights granted by the Bulgarian kings by special firmans. Irrespective of this, the Monastery was devastated around the mid-15th century. It started rising again after the relics of Ivan Rilski were brought from Veliko Turnovo here in 1469 (passing through the whole of Bulgaria as a nation-wide patriotic procession). The fate of the Monastery became the concern of the entire Bulgarian nation.

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