Chiprovtsi Monastery "St. Ivan Rilski ”

The Chiprovtsi Monastery “St. Ivan Rilski ”is located about 7 km from the town of Chiprovtsi. The monastery has been declared a cultural monument in issue 22 of the State Gazette since 1975.

The monastery was founded in the tenth century and during the years of its existence established itself as a literary and educational center. The Holy Monastery also took part in the struggle for liberation from Ottoman rule. The participants in the Chiprovtsi uprising of 1688 used it as a refuge.

The monastery was destroyed and looted several times. The bones of those killed in the Chiprovtsi uprising are stored in the ossuary tower, which is part of the monastery complex. The main church was built in the late eighteenth - early nineteenth century. It is single-nave and single-apse. The chapel "St. Athanasius the Great ”, built in 1880, is located in one of the residential wings of the monastery.

The Chiprovtsi Monastery is a functioning male monastery. His temple holiday is on October 19. Currently, the monastery does not offer accommodation, as some of the premises are under renovation. Information materials and icons are sold in the main temple, and the monks could tell you the history of the monastery.