Podgumer Monastery St. Dimitar – Novi Iskar

The Podgumer Monastery St. Dimitar is a part of the Vitosha Small Holy Mountain. The monastery is situated in a small valley in the south foot of the Sofia Mountain of West Balkan Mountain. It is lies some 7 km away eastern direction from Novi Iskar, and 5 km northeastern from the village of Podgumer. It is believed that the monastery was built in 13th century. It was destroyed and ruined many times, and in 1848 was restored again with the aid of the local people from the Podgumer surrounding villages – Kurilo, Gnilyane, Kumaritsa, Zhelyava. The wall-paintings were made by Pimen of Sofia, who was wall-painted over fifteen churches and monasteries in Bulgaria. The monastery church is a small basilica with one apse, having big narthex with no dome. The Apostle of Freedom Vassil Levski stayed here once during his work in the Sofia region. In the period 16-18th century the monastery was one of the literary centers in the district and there was a rich library as some of the book and documents were written by the monks living in the monastery. Once the monastery kept a copy of the first edition of Nedelnik (Sunday Study) written by Sofroniy Vrachanski, which was printed in Rome in 1806. https://maps.app.goo.gl/3amigRrMu9Q3362B9