The Bachkovo Monastery

The Bachkovo Monastery was founded in 1083 by the Byzantine military commander of Georgian origin Grigorii Bakuriani and his brother Abbasii. Grijorii built up the monastery in his own feudal lands, and according to Georgian traditions, dedicated it to the woman-mother, thus naming it The Petrichki Monastery (after the name of the nearby fortress). In 1206 Tsar Kaloyan conquered the Rhodope Mountains and the Bachkovo Monastery was included within the boundaries of the Bulgarian State. After 1344 Tsar Ivan Alexander consolidated the Bulgarian ruling over the Rhodopes, and the monastery became an important medieval centre of religion and learning. After the Ottomans conquered Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Patriarch Evtimii of Turnovo was exiled to the monastery and created the Bachkovo School of Education there. The monastery library preserves many valuable incunabula and old manuscripts. Its most remarkable asset, however, are the unique paintings, which could be seen everywhere in the churches and the Ossuary, The figure of the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Alexander is discernible on the 11th and 14th century murals, in the Refectory (1601), in the "Assumption of the Holy Virgin" main church (1604), and in "The Holy Trinity and St. Nicholas" church (1840), which contains some of the first murals painted by the eminent National Revival artist Zachary Zograph.