Description of the attraction
The Iskretsky Monastery of the Assumption of the Virgin is located in the western part of the Balkan Mountains, about 2 km east of the village of Iskrets. The monastery was founded in the 13th century, but a century later, during the years of Ottoman slavery, it was destroyed by the Turks. Around the 17th century, the building was restored and used first as a chapel, and only later - from 1834 - again as a monastery cloister. It is currently not a functioning monastery.
Of the structures that were part of the monastery complex, the building of the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin has survived to this day. It is a one-nave, domeless basilica with a semi-cylindrical apse. The walls of the building are reinforced with buttresses made of large stones. The main part of the temple, which is 8, 7 and 5 meters in length and width, respectively, was built at the beginning of the 17th century (1602). In 1846, a vestibule with dimensions of 10 x 7, 4 meters was added to it. The church is devoid of any external decorations, but inside you can see old frescoes dating from the 17th and 19th centuries: three different images of Christ. The altar apse contains the image of the Mother of God and the scene "The Day of the Holy Trinity". In the vestibule there are paintings "Apocalypse", "The Revelation of John the Theologian". A number of frescoes (The Parable of the Publican and the Pharisee, etc.) adorn the walls of the vestibule.
Near the church there is a small heptagonal stone building - a confessional. It was built in 1856 and is one of a kind. Inside the walls of the confessional are painted.
Another surviving building is a two-story residential building with a massive stone plinth and a small attic. The building was erected in the 19th century.
The Iskretsky Monastery of the Assumption of the Mother of God has been declared a cultural monument.
