The RILA Monastery

Individual and group excursions to the Rila monastery by request!  H I S T O R Y The chronicle of this monastery reflects the entire history of the Bulgarian State and the Bulgarian people, the defence of their spiritual and cultural nature. The introduction to the Rila Monastery could well start with the words of the first Bulgarian historian, Paissii of Hilendar, recorded in 1762 in his Slav-Bulgarian History: "Of all the Bulgarian glory when there were so many large monasteries and churches in Bulgaria earlier the Lord has left only the Rila Monastery to exist in our times... It is of great use to all Bulgarians. Therefore, it is the duty of all Bulgarians to guard it, and to give alms to the sacred Rila Monastery. . . "

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The monastery was founded by Ivan Rilski (John of Rila) in the 10th century as a colony for hermits. It has been destroyed by fire, and abandoned by the monks. Its presentday place, 119 km south of Sofia, is the one in which it stood during the 14th century, when the proto- sebast Dragovol Hrelyo settled in the monastery as an independent ruler. In 1335 he built the five-storey defence tower, topped by the Transfiguration Chapel, fragments of whose murals can still be seen today.

By the end of 14th century, the Rila Monastery had turned into a powerful feudal entity with many villages, lands and properties. Tsar  Shishman alone, the last Bulgarian ruler, donated it over twenty villages in different districts. The monastery's unquestionable authority influenced the Turkish sultants who confirmed the rights granted by the Bulgarian kings by special firmans. Irrespective of this, the Monastery was devastated around the mid-15th century. It started rising again after the relics of Ivan Rilski were brought from Veliko Turnovo here in 1469 (passing through the whole of Bulgaria as a nationwide patriotic procession).

The fate of the Monastery became the concern of the entire Bulgarian nation. A new centre was needed for the cultural life, which had declined or was transferred abroad. Many of the time's most outstanding men of letters gradually started gathering in the monasteries. The first links with Russian monasteries were established. A charter of Tzar Ivan the Terrible, kept today at the Monastery Museum, allowed the monks unlimited access to the Moscow Principality.

A R C H I T E C T U R E

The Rila Monastery was burned and pillaged on several occasions. The construction of the present-day monastery buildings, which stret- ched over thirty years, started in 1816, with means collected from the entire people. The large monastery kitchens are located in the northern wing, and are a unique examle of building and architecture: a 24-metre cone passing trough all floors by means of ten rows of arches topped by a small cupola.

W A L L   P A I N T I N G

The church's interior is extremely impressive. The murals were painted between 1840 and 1848 by some of the finest artists of the time: Ivan Nikolov The Iconpainter, Kosta Valyov, Zahari Zograph, Dimiter Zograph and his sons - all from Samokov, Dimiter Mollerov from Bansko and his son Simeon. The icons of the main altar were painted by Ivan Obrazopis- sov from Samokov. The twenty donors' potraits in the church mark the beginning of Bulga- rian secular painting, of realistic portraits.

This gallery of art was enriched by the murals in the churches and chapels outside the mo- nastery. Thirty-six figural scenes, the figures of the Old Testament Kings, apostles martyrs, an exceptionally rich ornamentation of flowers, birds and stylized figures - this, in short, is the subject-matter of the main carved altar of the Holy Virgin Church fashioned by four masters over a period of five years.

C A R V I N G   A N D   C R A F T S

Stunningly carved is the entrance gate of the church of Protosebast Hrelyo, preserved to- day in the monastery's museum of history. The museum also contains a multitude of gold and silver church plates, collections of coins, weapons, jewelry goldweave materials and embroidery. A unique masterpiece is the carved cross of the Monk Raphael worked over a period of 12 years. The library contains 16000 volumes including 134 manuscripts from l5th to 19th century, numerous incunabula and documents. The donations received from all parts of the country represent a very rich ethnographic collection - a national collection of works of arts and crafts. Retaining the names of the donors and the exact date of donation, they represent an original chronicle of the national consciousness, of those pure patriotic feelings and hopes which were inspired throughout centuries in every Bulgarian by the Rila Monastery - the country's largest spiritual and cultural temple.

G A L L E R Y

Photos: Veselin Stoyanov

BULGARIAN MONASTERIES

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