Rock Monastery St. Archangel Michael

The monastery was founded in the 1920s of the 13th century by the monk Yoakim, who later became the Bulgarian Patriarch. The monastery was supported by Bulgarian kings such as Yoan Asen II and Yoan Alexander, as well as other members of the royal court, whose donor portraits are still visible today. During the Second Bulgarian Empire, the rock monastery developed into a spiritual and literary center. The preserved frescoes in six of the churches show Bulgarian religious art of the 13th and 14th centuries, with the frescoes of the church “Sveta Bogoroditsa” being considered examples of Palaeologan art in the Balkans and belonging to the UNESCO World Heritage. In the 14th century, the monastery was a center of Hesychasm. Although it survived the first centuries of Ottoman rule, it gradually fell into disrepair and and was declared a National Archaeological Reserve in 1978.

The monastery is no longer in operation today but can be visited. A system of steps and paths in the rock walls allows access to the various churches and chapels of the complex.