Description of the attraction
The Kremikov Monastery of St. George is a Bulgarian Orthodox monastery located 25 kilometers from Sofia, on the slope of the Stara Planina Mountains. It is considered one of the most valuable medieval cultural monuments located in the Balkans. According to legend, it was founded in the middle of the XIV century during the reign of the Tsar of Bulgaria, John-Alexander. In 1382, after the capture of Sofia by the Turks, it was destroyed. The first written mention of the monastery dates back to 1493, when the boyar Radiva, with the blessing of Metropolitan Sofia, rebuilt the old church of St. George the Victorious in memory of his children who died in 1492.
The monastery complex consists of an old church, a new church and a couple of living quarters. The Old Church of St. George is a single-nave, domeless, oblong basilica. Its walls are decorated with paintings from the 15th-17th centuries. In the narthex you can see images of the benefactor of the Radivy church together with his family and Metropolitan Sofia Kalevit. In the interior there are frescoes depicting scenes from the life of St. George the Victorious, as well as an illustration for the Christmas story of the Bible. The new Church of the Intercession of Our Lady was built in 1902. The iconostasis of the 17th century is kept in it. and the old Kremikov Gospel of the late 15th century.
In the 17th and 18th centuries. at the monastery complex there was one of the largest book workshops in Bulgaria.
In the second part of the 19th century, the Kremikovsky Monastery was briefly abandoned, but already in 1879 nuns reappeared in it.
