Monasteries: symbols of national identity
The first Bulgarian monasteries were built in the vicinity of large cities during the Middle Ages. In the 10th century, the first so-called hermit monasteries appeared. Then came the monasteries of Rila, a Unesco World Heritage Site, Batchkovo and Lesnovski, in the 11th and 12th centuries.
During the period of Byzantine domination (1018-1186), the monasteries allowed the preservation of the Bulgarian national identity, language and literature and allowed their rebirth with the second Bulgarian kingdom. At the same time, the first churches built in the rock and monasteries on this model appeared in the 10th century. The most famous of them are the monastery of Ivanovo in the park of Roussenski Lom, also a World Heritage Site, Kreptcha and Karloukovo. The monasteries of Sveta Bogoroditsa, Sveta Troitza in Veliko Tarnovo, Kilifarevo, Batochevo, Zemen, and Dragalevtsi also date from this period.
The first monastic communities developed during these periods. The most famous are those of Tirnovo in Sveti Chetirides and Muchenitsi and, next to Sliven, Vidin and Asenovgrad. The famous complex Mala Sveta Gora (Little Mount Athos) was composed of fourteen monasteries. It should be noted that, despite the low risks at the time of their construction, when Bulgaria was fully Christianized, most of them were fortified, mainly to fight against the attacks of thieves and other looters. During the period of Ottoman rule, from the fourteenth to the nineteenth century, most were destroyed or deserted, especially during the first years after the invasion. Today, monastic complexes and communities no longer really exist. Each monastery has its own management.
The rebirth of monasteries
Attacked from all sides, shamelessly destroyed, the monasteries resisted thanks to the inhabitants who rebuilt them to resist the threat. From the 15th century, the Bulgarians began to restore some monasteries and to build new ones. Thus, the monasteries of Eleshnitchi and Bilinski were built, while those of Rila, Batchkovo, Preobrajenie and Troyan were restored and enlarged. The monasteries of Hilendar and Zograf on Mount Athos played an important role in maintaining religious life under the pressure of the occupiers. Gradually, the monasteries became centers of Bulgarian culture and, in the early 19th century, the focus of the first nationalist revolutionary movements. There were libraries, schools for training in Bulgarian writing, and they were in close contact with the monasteries of Russia, Serbia, Moldavia, Wallachia and Mount Athos in Greece. For many centuries, they remained the "guardians" of Bulgarian spirituality, the only place where it was possible to find works of Bulgarian literature, as well as documents on national history, even though many of them have unfortunately been stolen since then, scattered in private collections and in many museums. Their role in the struggle for independence was crucial, through the preservation and transmission of Bulgarian culture that they carried out.
A visit to a monastery
Almost all monasteries can be visited as long as they are active, whether they are run by religious or lay people. The biggest, the most famous and the most visited is Rila (followed by Troyan and Batchkovo), in the national park of the same name, 120 km south of Sofia. In this and some other monasteries, you can stay overnight for a fee. You just have to go to the reception and ask if a room is available. They will ask you for your passport and then show you your room, giving you an access that other visitors do not have: the upper floor! In the high season the places are rare, especially in the monastery of Rila. But it is not possible to book in advance, so it is by chance. During autumn and winter the rooms are quite cool, if not cold, but the experience is worth it.
Depending on the monastery, once again, parking is charged, usually between 1 and 5 levas. The parking attendants will come directly to you to pay the amount.
You are allowed to take pictures from the outside as well as in the courtyard. But once you enter the monastery church, photos are not allowed. Sometimes they are allowed if you pay. The taking of pictures is scrupulously supervised. The rules required by the monastery are always displayed in the form of pictograms on a sign at the entrance. You will even see the prohibition to use a drone. You will notice the presence of cats and dogs, faithful companions of the monastery, clean and calm, that you can pet without fear.
Now that you know the rules of respecting a monastery, admire the religious art including the remarkable paintings and icons.
The Birth and Expansion of Religious Art
Bulgaria has a rich heritage of religious art. It is obviously, like other Orthodox countries, marked by the art of the icon. The Bulgarian icon has a long history. It arrived in the 9th century, at the same time as the Christianity of Constantinople, and has succeeded, by popularizing itself, to become an art in its own right. The first icons found during archaeological excavations in Preslav are made of ceramic, which is an original fact. The abundance of fragments and kilns testifies to the fact that this technique was widely used. The oldest icon is that of St. Theodore (late 9th-early10th century), which is marked by austerity and simplicity. It can be seen today in the Museum of Archaeology in Veliki Preslav. The iconography and the frescoes reach their golden age during the second Bulgarian kingdom (11th-14th centuries), at the Tarnovo school. The most outstanding monuments of this period are the frescoes of the Church of the Forty Martyrs (1230) and of the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul (14th century) in Veliko Tarnovo, those of the Church of Boyana (1259), of the Rock Church of Ivanovo (14th century). The school of Tarnovo evolves from the Byzantine canons by simplifying the composition and making the colors more sober. The characters become closer, less stylized. Realistic elements begin to be introduced: thus, one can notice the presence of garlic and onions on the table of the Last Supper in Boyana. This school developed and perfected the art of the miniature to the extreme: the Tetraevangile of Ivan Alexander (1356), now in the British Museum, the Chronicle of Manasseh (1331-1340) in the Vatican.
The art of the icon continued to develop under the influence of the monumental art of frescoes. Museums treasure specimens from this period, some of which are double-sided, such as that of Christ Pantocrator and the Virgin of Nessebar or the icon of Poganovo.
The preservation of religious art in monasteries
The Ottoman invasion abruptly stopped the development of this art which was to be reborn a few centuries later through the national revival. The monasteries played a great role in the perpetuation of this heritage. Several small monasteries (Dragalevtsi, Kremikovtsi, Poganovo) housed valuable frescoes during the Ottoman period, where the portraits of the donors began to break out of the established patterns. At that time, icons were strongly influenced by Italy, but especially by Mount Athos, which was home to Slavic monasteries.
Zaharii Zograf, one of the most famous artists of the Bulgarian renaissance, who worked at the Bulgarian Zografski monastery on Mount Athos, restored several churches and monasteries in Western Bulgaria.
From the 17th century, when the country was relatively prosperous, some monasteries specialized in iconography: Rila, Melnik, Bachkovo, Lovetch, Nessebar. Some of these monasteries tried to consolidate the traditional, solemn style, while others, like Tarnovo, tended towards simplification.
With the Bulgarian renaissance (end of 18th-beginning of 19th century), the improvement of the economic conditions helped, the wall painting and the iconography took a new rise. Under the influence of the Western Baroque and the evolution of morals, the traditional asceticism was abandoned in favor of a more flamboyant and less schematic painting. The volume was amplified, the color intensified. Two main schools emerged. The Tryavna school allowed great creative freedom and introduced elements of architecture and landscape as well as the natural colors of the region. The Samokov school (Zaharii Zograf and Stanislav Dospevski), influenced by Mount Athos, after somewhat stylized frescoes, became the forerunner of lay painting with the first portraits.
Thus each monastery is the witness of an art that could have been lost without the perseverance of the artists living there. In the crypt of the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia, explore the gallery of ancient art, another witness to the artistic skills of the residents and laymen. The Fine Arts Gallery in Bourgas also exhibits beautiful works.
