Monasterio De Rila 🇧🇬 Bulgaria

The Rila Monastery is located at an altitude of 1,147 meters in the aromatic coniferous forest of the Rila Mountains. The area around it is protected and is known as the Rila Monastery Natural Park. The preservation of the lands is closely linked to the dominant national religion, the Bulgarian Orthodox Christianity. Winter blends harmoniously with nature. I find it truly charming. The Rila Monastery in Bulgaria is a symbol of national identity, as it represents the presence of Bulgarian culture and faith despite years of foreign rule. During the 500 years of Ottoman domination, the monastery was a sanctuary for religion, culture and the language of Bulgaria. It was also the center of the intellectual movement that eventually led to liberation. From the outside, the monastery gives the impression of being a fortress. It has 24 meters of stone walls, which form an irregular pentagon. The main entrance contrasts with the austerity of the stone walls. Upon passing the entrance, the visitor is surprised by the architecture. Arches, columns, stairs covered with wood and galleries engraved in addition to the 300 or 400 monastic cells. Inside, the monastery is a characteristic example of the Bulgarian Renaissance of the 18th and 19th centuries. The monument symbolizes the consciousness of Slavic cultural identity after centuries of occupation. At the center of the inner courtyard is the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin. It was built with three niches, two side chapels and an open gallery. The construction of the current church with five domes was completed in 1838 and during the next 23 years it was decorated with wood engravings. The church facade guides our gaze to the north. The north wing gives us a view of the irregular and high peaks of the Rila mountain, which seems to be repeated in the arches of the buildings. The daring innovation and flexibility with which the tradition has been interpreted in the architectural design of the imposing church reveals the nature of art during the period of the national revival. The church was built by the master Pavel Ivanovich, from the village of Krimin, in the region of Kostur. It stands on the site of the old church of the times of the Sebastocrator, Relio, which was collapsed by the monks after the Great Fire of 1833. The scheme of the construction includes medieval elements and Baroque spatial principles, a focus that distinguishes the Bulgarian ecclesiastical architecture, whose characteristics are observed in the art of the time. An artistic emphasis that is observed in the architectural ensemble of the monastery is the tower of Relio, which is the only structure preserved from the old building. The tower was ordered to be built in 1335 under the orders of Sebastocrator, in the courtyard of the monastery with the purpose of being a tower of defense. The fortification style in its architecture is softened with brick decorations. The tower is 23 meters long and its walls are 1.80 meters thick, and is dedicated to St. John Rilski and the Virgin Mother of Osenovica. On the upper floor of the tower is a chapel elaborately decorated with mural paintings. You can access the different levels through a stone staircase built on the walls. Years later, the monks built an annex to the tower that served as a bell tower. The arched gallery with stone columns, the exquisite arches with ornamental inscriptions, the blind domes, and the gallery with pictorial scenes representing passages from the Gospels, invite us to enter the temple. The narthex consists of a series of small domes held by the walls and an arch that covers the west facade and parts of the north and south wall. Therefore, isolated from the rain, the exterior walls and the series of domes are decorated with religious passage paintings. In the domes and their hangings, visitors can see scenes of Jesus and the Virgin in the sky wearing bright colors. The execution of the monumental mural paintings carry the tradition of medieval art. Even so, they contain the color marks of the new era, the purity of the lines, and the characteristic realism of the trend of the period of the Bulgarian resurgence. The architectural diversity, the natural materials used to build the columns and arches, the colorful fringes, and the lavish mural paintings in the gallery are particularly powerful. The mural paintings on the internal and external walls of the church combine the rigid adherence to the canons with the realistic presentation of the images. Sograps or mural painters from the art schools of Vansko and Zamokov Saari Sograp was the only one to sign and date his works. 1844 A true work of art is the inconsistency between the large size and the engraving in the center, as well as the architectural elements used to integrate the composition as a whole and its elaborations engraved in wood. The church offers another source of inspiration in its frescoes. Each square centimeter of the wall and ceiling is a space used for painting. In the lower part of the walls, the demons haunt and incite evil to the souls of Christians unloaded in dark infernal scenes. Rila Monastery The monastery of Rila was established in the 9th century by a Christian hermit known as Ivan Rilsky, or Juan Rila, who lived and wandered through the mountains of Rila for more than 40 years. Ivan Rilsky keeps in his reputation having performed many miracles, including relieving the sick. At his death in 946, his relics became a veneration object. Pilgrims still visit them in the monastery, and he is recognized as the patron saint of Bulgaria. After his death, the monastery grew gradually. Hundreds of monks moved to it, meditating and praying, leaving religious testimony in manuscript texts, and thus building the monastery's reputation as a center of art and Christian music. Rila Monastery Since medieval times, pilgrims have built paths that lead to the monastery from all over the world, being recognized as a sacred place by the Orthodox world. Rila Monastery has become a center of pilgrimage of great world importance. It is located at a strategic point in the main pilgrimage routes of the Balkans. The richness of spiritual and religious manifestations and the agitated activities in favor of the family, by the monastery and which have been part of the community for several centuries, as well as providing refuge and food to many of the inhabitants, in addition to persuading believers to carry out great constructions, ensured its existence from its foundation until two or three centuries after the beginning of the Ottoman Empire. These activities had their maximum splendor during the 18th and 19th centuries, when pilgrims became so many that they had to build numerous buildings of services around the monastery to receive them. The arrival of the Ottomans at the end of the 14th century was followed by numerous raids of destruction to the monastery in the middle of the 15th century. Some churches were turned into mosques. The Ottoman leaders took control of most of the Orthodox institutions of Bulgaria to turn them into an Orthodox Greek church. The monastery of Rila, however, maintained its Bulgarian clergy and continued to provide its services and rituals in Bulgarian. Thanks to the donations of the Russian Orthodox Church and much more to the monastery of Rosikon in Mount Athos, the monastery of Rila was rebuilt at the end of the 15th century by three brothers from the Kyustendil region, who transferred the relics of John Rila to the complex. The monastery also became a refuge for thousands of important manuscripts, icons, wooden religious engravings and iconic panels known as iconostasios. At the end of the 18th century and at the beginning of the 19th century, the monastery of Rila was the center of the awareness that would eventually lead to the movement of independence and liberation of the Ottoman regime in 1878. A series of fires destroyed much of the monastery during this time and some of the most renowned architects and artists managed to rebuild it in its current state. In 1991, the monastery was reinstated as property of the church. The lands surrounding the monastery were recognized as part of the National Park a year later. In 2000, these lands were returned to the church and the Rila Monastery Natural Park was created. More than 75% of the land belongs to the church and the rest is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Environment and Waters of Bulgaria. The monks' barracks are located in the interior courtyard of the monastery. The four floors that make up the residential part have four chapels, a laundry room, kitchen, library and guest room. The monastic departments exceed 300 and are unique in their architecture, large galleries, engraved wood decorations, paintings and furniture. Rila is the ancient name Trasio for water. The 60,000 acres that make up the park that surrounds the monastery are spread over lakes and glacial rivers. The land is characterized by its meadows, coniferous forests and alpine peaks. Bulgaria is the third most biodiverse country in Europe and the park occupies about a quarter of the national territory. The Rila Monastery is the most impressive in the country, whose architectural and artistic magnificence have given it a place on the UNESCO list of cultural and natural heritage of humanity. The total area of ​​the Rila Monastery is approximately 8,800 square meters, 1,500 of which are occupied by the rooms of the monastery, 1,000 square meters by the church, 80 square meters by the relic tower, while the remaining 3,200 square meters occupy the courtyard of the monastery. The Rila Monastery is a wonderful work of architecture. Each of its components has a balanced and symmetrical plane and despite not being aligned, the complex is not overloaded or disproportionate. Instead, it offers us the opportunity to explore and discover each of its views. Approximately half a million tourists and pilgrims visit the Rila Monastery and the Natural Park every year, making it the most visited region and also the most protected in Bulgaria. The environmental decisions of Bulgaria are under the scrutiny of the international community. The plan is a combination of a basilica with three corridors with three domes. Each of them can be seen as a cross in a picture. The result is a church that comprises the Byzantine ideals of a central plane and that allows to have a large nave in which processions can be carried out. In the Western Orthodox Church, both light and darkness are considered sacred, so in most churches it is common to find semi-darkness. It is made of wood with a gold plate and has very elaborate engravings. Following the canonical laws, the main entrance to the apse is flanked by icons of the Virgin and the Christ Pantocrator. The church consists of two chapels, the iconostasis of St. Nicholas and that of St. John Rilski. The first is said to have been taken by the ancient medieval church, built by Heralio Dragobon. It is smaller than that of St. John Rilski and has traces of being remodeled and adapted from a previous construction. One of the curiosities of Rila is the private and unique collection of classic cars and cycle cars of the early 20th century. The history of the manufacture of cars in the country is marked by a series of ambitious but short attempts to produce their own cars. The collection includes around 50 cars with great national historical significance. Each of them illustrates important developments in the automotive history of Bulgaria. The monastery offers a great view of the peaks of the mountains that surround it and represents one of the most important places of interest for tourists in the region. For more information visit www.barcelona.com