Kilifarevo Monastery

The complex of the Kilifarevo Monastery Holy Birth of Virgin Mary is situated in the river valley of Belitsa River, some 4 km southeast of the village of Kilifarevo, Veliko Tarnovo district. At the very beginning of its existence the monastery was situated on the hill nearby. It is believed that the Kilifarevo monastery was built between 1348 and 1350. Its founder is the prominent Bulgarian ecclesiastic Teodosiy of Tarnovo. Teodosiy of Tarnovo and Tsar Ivan Assen turned the cloister into important center of the Bulgarian medieval education and enlightenment. A great number of public worship books and Byzantine chronicles were translated here, collections were made, saints’ lives described. This made the monastery very popular abroad. The Kilifarevo literary center was soon established, as in 1360 it had 460 students, the most popular of which is the Bulgarian patriarch Evtimiy of Tarnovo. The monastery was surrounded by solid fortified wall, and a high tower rose in the center of the courtyard which was used for observation of the Haimboaz Pass. But like most Bulgarian monasteries, the Kilifarevo one was burned down and ruined when the Ottomans conquered the Bulgarian lands. The literary center was entirely destroyed. It was 1718 when the monastery was restored on its present site. At the end of the 18th century it was again burned and restored several times. After long-lived efforts, in 1840 the National Revival master Kolyo Ficheto started constructing the now-existing single-nave church of St. Dimitar. He kept a part of the old altar wall and the two chapels – the one of St. Teodosiy of Tarnovo and of St. Ivan Rilski. The temple was completed in 1842, and the internal decoration – a year later. The complex includes also two beautiful two-floor buildings in National Revival style, the older of which dates from 1849. Now the monastery is monument of culture.