Etropole monastery

The Etropole monastery is located in the foot of the Cherni vrah summit in the Stara Planina mountain, some 5 km east of the town of Etropole. It was built on a travertine rock, which is probably where his second name – Varovitetz (“varovit” in Bulgarian language means “limy”) came from. The monastery is known to have existed as early as the Second Bulgarian State. A legend tells that in search of solitude, St. Ivan Rilski settled in one of the caves in the nearby region of Varovitetz. The proximity of a village, however, forced him to leave his shelter and to move to the Rila mountain, far from all human vanity. After the Saint left the place, local residents, thinking the place was holy, decided to build a monastery on it and called it Varovitetz. During the Ottoman yoke, the cloister was ravaged and all monks who lived in it had to leave it. Then a period followed in which it fell in absolute oblivion. In the end of the 16th century, it was restored, and gradually turned into one of the biggest spiritual and educational centers in Bulgaria.