The monastery was established in the tenth century by St. Ivan of Rila. It was destroyed by the Ottomans in the late 15th century but rebuilt with Russian support. It was destroyed again in 1833 -this time by fire - and rebuilt yet again, this time by the Bulgarians. It is a prime example of National Revival architecture and the painted walls are unbelievable. The interior is walnut and gold, which is typical. We also visited the museum, which highlighted the contributions the monks made toward preserving the Bulgarian language and history while under the "yoke of the Ottomans".
What looks like stone work is actually painted.
The black and white is painted, but the murals are what people come to see. The walls, arches and domes are covered with scenes from the life of Christ and instructing an illiterate people about temptation and sin and the life to come.
It's pretty impressive.
The dormitories, though there are only nine monks remaining.
A view from the tower, which Charlie climbed. The tower is the only part of the original monastery still standing.
The day turned out to be gorgeous and we shed even our lightweight jackets. Had a late lunch at an inn on the road and sat on the patio. By the time we got back we'd been gone for ten hours but much of the day had been sitting so we took a walk to the upscale pedestrian shopping street, just to stretch and see the city.
The light is so poor you can hardly see the kids dancing to the buskers, but the music sounded much like Klezmer. Maybe it was. I'm not sure what Bulgarian music sounds like. Since we hadn't finished lunch until 3:00, we skipped dinner and went to the Viennese pastry shop for dessert. Hey, what's a few more calories at this point?
11006 steps (4.7 miles)
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