Rilski monastery “Uspenie Presweta Bogoroditca” (“The Assumption”)

The monastery birth is due to the activity of a Bulgarian man, who lived in poverty in the village of Skrino, named Ivan. This young man ran away from the secular life and accepted monkhood. He found a real peace in the mountain nooks of Rila mountain. Another legend says that Ivan was a rich royal boyar who did not accepted the poverty of the people and decided to become a monk. During the ages the temple was ruined and rebuilt many times. During the reign of tsar Ivan Alexander the restored monastery became a nest fot men of letters and enlighteners.His heir tsar Ivan Shishman gave to the cloiser as a gift a special royal decree on the 21-st of september 1378.This decree confirmed the old rights of the monastery, stamped with the signiture of the king. The temple became a wealthy source of light literary traditions.Its bishop – the man of letters , called Dometiyan, copied “The Precept” from Ivan Rilski and this creation reached the present day life. The Rilski monastery did not suffer under the fall of the Ottoman slavery because its lands were part of the lands, owed by king Konstantin, who remained a vassal to the sultan and took the monastery under his patronage. A sultan decree confirmed again the rights of the temple, given to it from the Bulgarian tsars. But despite all, the invasions over the monastery did not late. Extremely hard was the time of sultan Murad II. Later on the monastery gained a contract with some Russian monasteries like “St. Pantelejmon”, called Rusik. At this time were transported the relics of Ivan Rilski from Turnovgrad and thus the monastery became an attractive centre for the people of all over the country. In 1778 after an Ottoman invasion many monks were killed and all the wooden buildings of the monastery were burned. A sultan order permitted to the monastic brotherhood to restore the burned buildings and the church. The men of God went to Aton to choose the form of the church.The fair church was built up after the pattern of the Hilendarska church in Aton with five domes,wall-paintings of biblical scenes , icons and founder’s images. The monastery buildings are four storeyed. There are two entrances in the yard- from the south side and from the east side. During 1961 the Rilski monastery was announced for a national museum.With a ministerial decree from 1976 the cloiser and its surroundings were proclamated for a National historic and architectural reserve. In 1983 UNESCO included the Rila temple in the list of the world cultural heritage. The Rilski monastery is situated in the heart of Rila mountain. The national museum is 38 km. north-west from the town of Blagoevgrad.There is a regular bus transport to it.