Description of the attraction
The Shipchensky Monastery is one of the most famous Bulgarian sights associated with the most important event in the history of the country - the acquisition of national independence. It is dedicated, on the one hand, to the liberation of the country from Ottoman slavery, which was the result of the end of the Russian-Turkish war, and on the other hand, to those soldiers (Russians and Bulgarians) who valiantly fought and died in this war.
The monastery is a memorial church built on the outskirts of Shipka, not far from the Shipchensky Pass, located in the Stara Planina mountains, a landmark place of the war, where in 1877 the Russian army and Bulgarian militias won the battle. Almost a year after the end of the entire war, it was decided to erect this monumental building to commemorate the historic victory. Construction, begun in 1885, was funded by Russian and Bulgarian donations and was completed in 1902. Inside the building, on thirty-four stone slabs, the names of the heroes who died in the Battle of Shipka are carved.
The architect A. I. Tomishko, according to whose project the construction was carried out, was a passionate adherent of the Old Russian direction in architecture, which was reflected in the building of the Shipchensky Monastery. The interior of the monastery is striking in the richness of its decoration. There is a gilded carved iconostasis made by an architect from Russia Yagna, and the remains of the heroes of that war are buried in the crypt of the temple in sarcophagi. The bells of the Shipchensky monastery were cast from thirty thousand spent cartridges, and the heaviest of them weighs about 11 tons.
