ExcursionsТrips

The Klisura Monastery

The Klisura monastery “Saint Petka Paraskeva” is a functioning nunnery. It is located on a hill near the village of Klisura, which is very close to the town of Bankya. It is the only monastery in Bulgaria with verses and texts from the Bible written on the walls – inside and outside. Inside, relatively new murals, painted with bright and vibrant colours, decorate the monastery. This increases the spiritual strength, purity and holiness.

It is difficult to indicate the year of foundation of the Monastery, but there is a legend that connects it to the Second Bulgarian Kingdom. In 1238, Tsar Ivan Asen II ordered to bring the Relics of Saint Petka to the Capital of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom - Tarnovo.

When the procession stopped to rest here, the imperishable body of the saint sanctified the place.

The Christian community had built a church on this site, and later the Monastery was founded.

The reason behind the lack of information about the history of the Monastery is a fire, which had destroyed the archive, the library, and the church in the middle of the 20th Century.

Later, after a long and hard travel, the Russian nun Maria Magdalena arrived here. She began working hard for years to restore this holy place.

She stayed here for the rest of her life and died in 1978 after she successfully drew the attention of the monks, nuns and the Christian community of the region.

The Klisura Monastery “Saint Petka Paraskeva” is a wonderful place to relax and recover. It is surrounded by beautiful nature and is well maintained, built with great love and faith.

Divotinski monastery

Divotinski monastery is located near the village of Divotino in Lyulin Mountain, about 2 km southwest of Mihaylovo neighborhood of Bankya.

The monastery was founded in X century. During the Ottoman rule it was destroyed and rebuilt again in the XIX century (1875).

The monastery complex consists of a church, residential and farm buildings. Church has size 16 x 8 meters, a single nave, with two conchas and a turret. Here is stored an icon of St. Mary, considered for miraculous.

Nowadays Divotinski Monastery is a male monastery. It was declared a cultural monument.