Glozhene Monastery

The Glozhene Monastery is situated near the village of Glozhene, 12 km away from the town of Teteven. Seen from below it is like a castle on the rocks, near the Lisets summit in Stara planina. According to the legend the monastery was built in the 13th century by the Ukrainian knyaz Georgi Glozh with the approval of tzar Ivan Asen II. It was devoted to St. Georgi Pobedonosets. According to the legend, soon after the monastery had been built, the sacred icon of St. Georgi disappeared a couple of times from the sanctuary. Every time it was found on the summit near the village of Glozhene, where today’s monastery is situated. This inexplicable disappearance of the icon was understood by the monks as a holy sign to move the monastery on the summit. Finally they did this in the 14th century. Today the original of the icon is kept in the Lovech bishop’s residence. During the Ottoman slavery Vasil Levski was hiding often from the Turks in the monastery. Today his hiding-place is still there. Another famous Bulgarian, who was living there, was the writer Vasil Drumev. He was imprisoned there by an order of knyaz Ferdinand. There he lived through 15 months only with salted fish and water, and the food, which the monks was giving him through a secret hole in the ceiling of his room. Vasil Drumev was set free after the downfall of the government of Alexander Stambolov. The monastery church was built together with the new monastery in the 14th century. It was decorated and with beautiful woodcarvings. In 1913 the church was razed to the ground by an earthquake. Today, s church was built in 1951 over the foundations of the old one.