RILA MONASTERY

SAINT JOHN OF RILA, BULGARIA - JULY 2006

The Monastery of Saint Ivan Rilski is one of the seven cultural sites currently included (since 1983) in UNESCO's World Heritage List!


"HIGHWAY - The Rila Monastery is located 117km away from Sofia to the south, on the slopes of the Rila Mountain at 1,147 meters above sea level, in the valley of the Rilska River, and 29 km east of the Sofia-Thessaloniki Highway. The highest peak of the Rila Mountain, Mousala (2925 meters), which is also the Balkan Peninsula’s highest point, is only about 8 hours’ walk away.
We had some help on our drive to reach the monastery..."


"RADOMIR - On the way to the Monastery, we passed through the town of Radomir, which has an interesting story. According to Wikipedia, a rebellion broke out there on 28 September 1918. However, the movement for a new republic was quickly eliminated, lasting only until 2 October 1918, but was successful in eliminating the rule of King Ferdinand, who fled Bulgaria on 3 October 1918, in the wake of Allied occupation"


"RILA ENTRANCE - The Rila Monastery was founded in the 10th century by St. John of Rila, a hermit canonized by the Orthodox Church. The exterior of the monastery has high stone walls (reaching 4 floors) cut by small windows, reminding more of a military fort rather than a monastery"


"HRELYU TOWER - In the middle of the inner courtyard we may find the oldest building of the complex, a stone tower built by the feudal Sebastocrator (a meaningless title, which signified only a close relationship with the emperor) Hrelyu in 1334-1335"


"THE RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS are a characteristic example of the Bulgarian Renaissance. Following a fire in 1833, the architect Aleksi Rilets ran the reconstruction of the wooden part of the monastery with the help of 3,000 master builders, who managed to finish it within just 10 days, it seems"


"THE YARD - The closed irregular quadrangle contains the 4-floor residential part, which consists of more than 300 monks' cells, 4 chapels, an abbot’s room, a kitchen, a library and guestrooms"


"CELL - Doesn't seem too ascetic..."


"SPOONS - The kitchen is particularly interesting for its huge cooking devices"


"CHIMNEY – The kitchen chimney is quite impressive"


"WASHING MACHINE - Quite ingenious"




"THE FRESCOES - The brightly painted frescoes of the main church, sheltered under the arcades, are gorgeous, and the frescoes at the interior of the Church (no pictures allowed) absolutely stunning"


"DOMES"


"MAIN CHURCH"


"RILA COMPLEX - As many other Bulgarian monasteries that survived the Ottoman times, Rila, the largest Eastern Orthodox monastery in the country, acted as the nation's centre of spiritual life under the foreign rule. Its beauty was an astounding surprise!"

TEMPLES AND ARTS

SOFIA, BULGARIA - JULY 2006


"ROTUNDA - The Church of St George Rotunda, located behind the Sheraton Hotel quite close to the remains of the Roman road and of the ancient town of Serdica, is a 4th century Christian red brick church, considered to be the oldest building in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria"


"ROTUNDA'S INTERIOR is famous for its 10th-14th century frescoes. Three layers of frescoes have been discovered in the 20th century, as they had been painted over during the Ottoman period, when the building was used as a mosque. The earliest frescoes date back to the tenth century"


"ST. NEDELYA CHURCH, probably built in the 10th century, is a cathedral of the bishopric of the Bulgarian Patriarchate, an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church. A unique church was reconstructed between 1927 and 1933, after a bomb destroyed most of its original frame in 1925"



"ST. NEDELYA'S INTERIOR is wonderful. The gilt iconostasis that survived the bomb attack returned to the church in 1933 and the mural decoration was done by a team led by Nikolay Rostovtsev between 1971 and 1973"


"ST. PETKA SAMARDIJIISKA (St. Petka of the Saddlers), partially dug into the ground, features a semi-cylindrical vault, a hemispherical apse, and a crypt. The walls are one meter thick and made from brick and stone"


"ST. PETKA'S INTERIOR is known for its mural paintings from the 14th, 15th, 17th and 19th century depicting biblical scenes"



"THE SYNAGOGUE is the third largest in Europe (accommodating 1300 worshippers), next to the synagogues in Budapest and Amsterdam. Designed in a Spanish-Moorish style, the temple looks like the Vienna synagogue"


"MOSQUE - The Banya Bashi Mosque is one of the oldest mosques in Europe, having been completed in 1576. Its name means many baths, and is actually built over a natural thermal spa"



"THE BOYANA CHURCH is included in the UNESCO Heritage List. Located on the outskirts of Sofia, it consists of three buildings: the Eastern Church built in the 10th century; a second two storey building erected next to it; and a third church, built at the beginning of the 19th century. The frescoes in this second church, painted in 1259, make it one of the most important collections of medieval paintings. Actually, there are more than 700 fresco paintings there"



"RUSSIANS - The monuments from the socialist years are impressive and interesting as a detail of the country’s past. The most relevant are the Monument to the Soviet Army and the Monument to Freedom"



"THE NATIONAL HISTORICAL MUSEUM, housed in the stately Boyana Residence, is Bulgaria's largest museum. The museum currently stores and owns over 650,000 objects connected to archaeology, fine arts, history and ethnography, exhibiting about 10% of all"



"FRESCOES AND ICONOSTASES are some of the most important pieces of the Museum"


"THE TREASURE OF THE THRACIAN is probably the most impressive of the Museum pieces"

***

Runee was kind enough to give me the «I Learn from you Award»



Thanks Runee!

STREET SCENES

SOFIA, BULGARIA - JULY 2006

Sofia, at 550 meters above sea level, is surrounded by Mountains. The Balkan Range, the Lozen Mountain, Mount Vitosha and the Lyulin Mountain encircle the city, and thus the weather may be truly hot in summer. However, in 2006 (late June, early July), the temperature was bearable and a walk in the city was an interesting programme!


"THE LION'S BRIDGE over the Vladaiska River (north of the city centre in the direction of the Central Railway Station) has statues of four lions"


"FOUNTAIN - At the Maria Luiza Boulevard, near the Mosque, there is a public fountain that provides water for many residents. At least I saw many of them filling bottles..."


"MARKET - On the other side of the road we may find the central market that spreads over 3,200 square metres, and took two years to complete. The Market employs over 1,000 people, and offers foodstuff stalls and clothing, accessories and jewellery shops"


"MARIA LUIZA is one of the most important boulevards of Sofia"


"SAINT SOFIA - At the crossroad of «Maria Luisa» with two other main Boulevards, the statue of Saint Sofia, symbol and patron of the city, may be seen"


"SVETA PETKA SAMARDIJIISKA - The Church of St Petka of the Saddlers is a small medieval one-nave Orthodox church, partially dug into the ground in the TZUM subway"


"TRAFFIC POLICEMAN, with cell phone..."


"ST. NEDELYA SQUARE - An interesting place near the Sheraton, the Presidential palace and the St. Nedelya Church"


"CHANGING OF THE GUARD in front of the President's Office. Unfortunately I couldn't get any non-blurred picture of the guards walking their funny way"


"ROMAN ROAD - Sofia was originally a Thracian settlement called Serdica. Around 29 AD, Sofia was conquered by the Romans and renamed Ulpia Serdica. Behind the Presidential Palace and the Sheraton, near the Rotunda Church, there are remains of a Roman road"


"BANG & OLUFSEN - Interested in the best design audio and video products? You may buy them in Sofia..."


"BRIDE - Like everywhere else!"


"OPEN-AIR BOOK MARKET - At Slaveikov Square a large book market is arranged. There you may sit next to the statues of two Bulgarian writers - father and son Petko and Pencho Slaveikov - and enjoy your reading"



""SCULPTURE AND FOUNTAIN in the park near to the National Culture Palace"



"NEVSKI CATHEDRAL, FOUNTAIN AND PARK seen from the top of the Panorama Restaurant at the National Palace of Culture"



"VODENIZATA is a restaurant at the foot of the Vitosha Mountain, where you may have dinner while a Folklore performance takes place. One of the highlights of the show is the walk barefoot on the burnt/burning ashes of a huge tree trunk. But that night, the highlight was that Portugal sent England out of the World Cup 3-1 on penalties, after their quarter-final ended 0-0. The Portuguese goal-keeper, with three penalty saves, was the hero of the game"