The ROZHEN Monastery

H I S T O R Y The Rozhen Monastery was built by the Melnik ruler despot Slav during the 12th or 13th c. and is  the only monastery restored in the first cen- turies of  Ottoman rule that has survived to this day. The presentday appearance of this old mo- nastery dates back to 16th c. According to one inscription, the image of  Christ Pantocrator to- gether  with the twelve apostles  above the en- trance gate of the Holy Virgin main church, was painted in 1597. Valuable monuments of 17th c. painting  included  the  external  southern wall ( Doomsday, Jacob's Ladder ), dated  with an inscription from 1611 and scenes from the life of John the Baptist painted in 1622 in the ossuary.

Monasteries     Rila monastery     Bachkovo monastery     Troyan monastery  l Rojen monastery     Aladja monastery     Glojenski monastery     Cherepish monastery Treasures Thracian tombs World's oldest gold The Madara horseman Old Bulgarian Capitals Museum towns Old fortresses

W A L L   P A I N T I N G

The inside walls in the naos, the narthex and chapel of the main church were pain- ted in 1732,  with a strong inclination for narration, as a result of which more than 150 subject-matters were illustrated. The abundance of  figures of monks and her- mits unknown anywhere else,  many of them, probably historic personages, con- temporaries of the unknown painter, is al- so typical. Some of the paintings are ex- tremely complicated compositions, both in intent and in actual execution, in which Biblical themes have given full scope to boundless imagination.

C A L L I G R A P H Y

The Rozhen Monastery has left us with a treasure in yet another art - that of calligraphy. A unique work of the calli- graphic school, which existed here as early as in 14th c., is the manuscript "Internation of Jonah", taken in 1674 from the Constantinopole Patriarch Dositheusm, and kept today in the Holy Grave Church in Jerusalem.

BULGARIAN MONASTERIES

Home Top

Copyright © 2003 - 1997 by All rights reserved. This document is part of the Bulgarian tourist web guide PeakView and its content (text and images) may not be copied in part or full without express written permission from the publisher. All violations will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.