The Bachkovo Monastery

     The Bachkovo Monastery is the second largest Ortodox Monastery in Bulgaria. It is situated in the village ''Bachkovo'', which is 7 km south of Asenovgrad and 25 km south of Plovdiv in the hills of Rhodope Mountains. The Bachkovo Monastery was founded in 1083 by the Byzantine military commander, Grigoriy Bakurani and his brother Abbasiy. In the very beginning the monastery has been developed as a center of Georgian monkhood and it has preserved its Georgian character until the end of 12th century.

      In 1344 Bachkovo Monastery and the surrounding area came under the rule of the Bulgarian King Ivan Alexander.A portrait of Ivan Alexander can be still seen in the arcs of the bone - vault's naratex owing to his renovation of the building. The Bachkovo Monastery was renovated in the end of 16th and the early 17th century when the south wing of the building and the present Monastery church ''Virgin Mary'' were built. A multitude of unique works of applied art were createdin the 16th and 17th century in the holy religious cloister of Bachkovo Monastery. During 19th century, Bachkovo Monastery was the most important spiritual and cultural center in the region.

     Main Church of Bachkovo Monastery, Virgin Mary was built in 1604 and painted out in 1643. In the Monastery could be seen very old and interesting murals. One of the oldest wood - carved iconostases in Bulgarian lands is preserved in the church. The most treasured item of Bachkovo Monastery, which is also held in the Monastery temple, is the miraculous Virgin Mary icon which dates as far back as 1311.

     Besides the main church, Bachkovo Monastery has two smaller size churches - ''St. Archangels'' and ''St. Nicola'' . They are extremely impressive with their murals from 1841, painted by the master Zahari Zograf, who also made a mural portrait of himself for the first time. Over one hundred manuscripts and over two hundred and fifty old printed books were found in the Bachkovo Monastery in the beginning of 20th century and were called ''A real literature depository''. The most impresive mural is ''The Panorama Mural'' , which runs along the outside wall of the refectory, represents the history of Bachkovo Monastery pictorially. 

     It provides a bird's eye view of The Bachkovo Monastery with all the surrounding buildings at the time of the painting. This mural is very interesting because of its sheer size and because of its artistic impact and craftsmanship. The paint technique is called ''fresco buono'' , which is a mural art of painting that is applied on a smooth moist plaster. The implication of this technique, with the great deal of artistic mastery, is the reason why these murals looks fresh today.

     There are many shops, bars and traditional restaurants which surround the walking alley near The Bachkovo Monastery. You will have the opportunity to have a look at the wide variety of handcrafts on sale, also locally - grown vegetables and fruits, homemade jams, honey, rare herbs, woven bascets and etc.

 Book a private trip to The Bachkovo Monastery. It doesn't matter the city you want to depart - Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, etc... We can arrange your one-day trip to this destination and many other in Bulgaria. If you choose our services you can be sure that you will have English-speaking driver, clean and air-conditioned car, which would make your vacation more pleasant and comfortable.