chiprovtsi monastery

Chiprovtsi Monastery (Bulgarian: Чипровски манастир, Chiprovski manastir) is a Bulgarian Orthodox monastery 5 kilometres northeast of the town of Chiprovtsi in Montana Province in northwestern Bulgaria.

This monastery is approx 100 km Northwest from Sofia, 6 km from the small town of Chiprovtsi, which is very famous for its hand-made carpets. We stumbled upon it by chance, while visiting Berkovitsa, but I totally liked and recommend it.First, it's a monastery destroyed and rebuilt more than 6 times during Turkish occupation, the current building dates from 1829. It played a great role to preserve the Christian religion in the population during the occupation. The monastery keeps the remnants from the people who participated in the local uprisal against the Turks in 1688, it's a bit freaky but those remnants are exposed in an ossuary. There's a bell tower you can climb which opens fascinating views to the whole valley and the mountains surrounding it - unforgettable.Inside the monastery yard there's also a stone cross which is said to have miracle power - it cures specific diseases according to the priest.In all, even though the monastery is small, it is well preserved and you can get a guided tour around the monastery by the priests. I was really surprised that you can actually stay in the monastery - they give double rooms with bathrooms, heated during winter, 10 euro for the room. I'd really come and stay - it's an amazing place to relax and stroll around the nature of the region. You can also get food in the monastery.In all, very peaceful, amazing nature and amazing history. And you can combine with a visit to Chiprovtsi (they have nice museums there - you can get demonstration on how the famous local carpets are made, + there are workshops on making local food) or to Kom peak.