Trojan Monastery
The Trojan Monastery ( Bulgarian Троянски манастир / Trojanski manastir), literally the Dormition of the Mother of God (Bulgar. Успение Богородично / Uspenie Bogorodichno), is a Bulgarian Orthodox monastery and is considered the third largest monastery in Bulgaria .
location
The Trojan Monastery is located between the villages of Oreshak and Cherni Osam, about 10 km from the town of the same name on the northern slopes of the central Balkan Mountains , roughly in the center of Bulgaria on the left bank of the Cherni Osam river . Regular public bus services and marked hiking trails lead from the city to the monastery (approx. 4 hours).
Surname
The name of the town and monastery is derived from the ancient Roman road , the Via Trajana , which connected Moesia with Thrace and the Aegean Sea . The origins of the monastery can be traced back to the time before 1600. Written records are only preserved from the 17th century.
history
After the conquest of the Second Bulgarian Empire by the Ottoman Turks, the monastery was destroyed several times and the monks living in it were killed. It was only in the era of the Bulgarian Revival that the monastery was rebuilt with new apartments, most of which date from the 30s and 40s of the 19th century. Over time, the role of the monastery as an educational center increases. There was a printing press here that made dies with views from the monastery. In 1869 a monastery school was founded, sometimes teaching up to 100 students from the surrounding villages. In the 1870s, the monastery was actively involved in the Bulgarian liberation struggle against the Turks and often provided accommodation for revolutionaries and militants. The Bulgarian freedom fighter Wassil Lewski founded a revolutionary committee here with the support of the monks (→ Inner Revolutionary Organization ).
In addition to the wall paintings in the inner courtyard, the monastery church, which was built in 1835 by Master Konstantin from Peschtera , is worth seeing . Your wall paintings, created around 1849, are the work of the important Bulgarian icon painter Sachari Sograf . The wood-carved iconostasis, the work of a local woodcarver, is of great artistic value, as are the wood carvings in the St. Nicholas' Chapel , which were created in 1794 by the monk Kiprijan . In addition, the monastery is known for its miraculous icon of the Mother of God with three hands.
Web links
- History of the monastery (bulg.) On www.pravoslavieto.com
Coordinates: 42 ° 51 ′ 45 ″ N , 24 ° 46 ′ 50 ″ E