- Troyan Monastery
The Monastery of the
Dormition of the Most HolyMother of God ( _bg. Троянски манастир „Успение Богородично“) or, as it is more commonly called, the Troyan Monastery is the third largest monastery inBulgaria . It is located in the northern part of the country and was founded no later than the end of the 16th century.The monastery is situated on the banks of the
Cherni Osam nearOreshak , a village 10 km fromTroyan inLovech Province , and is a popular tourist destination.The main church of the monastery was reconstructed near the end of Ottoman rule during the
Bulgarian National Revival period by a master-builder called Konstantin in 1835. The ornate interior and exterior of the church were painted between 1847 and 1849 byZahari Zograph , a popular Bulgarian painter of the time, who also painted the central church of theRila Monastery , the largest monastery in Bulgaria. Many of the "moral and social experiments" of art at the time such as "Doomsday" and "Wheel of Life" were reproduced at Troyan. One highly controversial move by Zograph was to paint his image around one of the windows in the back of the church.The
iconostasis in the central church is a wood carving dating to 1839.The Troyan Monastery is also, since the 17th century, the home of one of the holiest icons in Bulgarian Orthodoxy, the "Three-Handed Virgin".
Many people make a pilgrimage to this monastery on St. George's Day because of an icon of St. George in the main church.
Gallery
External links
* [http://imagesfrombulgaria.com/v/Monasteries_in_Bulgaria/Troyan_Monastery/ Images from Troyan Monastery]
* [http://www.bulgarianmonastery.com/ Bulgarian Monasteries]
* [http://www.travel-bulgaria.com/content/troyan_monastery.shtml Travel Bulgaria: Troyan Monastery]
* [http://www.bulgaria.com/resorts/monasteries/troyan/ Troyan Monastery]
* [http://www.pravoslavieto.com/manastiri/troyanski/index.htm Троянски манастир (Troyan Monastery) - Bulgarian & English]
* [http://www.sofiabulgariatravel.com/3-miracle-working-icons-in-sofia.html The legend about Three-Handed Virgin icon]
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