Description of the attraction
The Arapov Monastery is located 8 km east of Asenovgrad, not far from the village of Arapovo. It was created in 1856 - at first it was a monastic community, and three years later the community was transformed into a monastery. This is the only monastery built during the period of the Turkish yoke. Since 1868, a school for the local poor has worked here.
The peculiarity of the monastery is its location - in an open field, while all other monasteries in Bulgaria were located on the hills, in the mountains or foothills. The position of the Arapov Monastery is due to the nearby Holy Spring (Ayazmo). It is thanks to this that the monastery has a specific feature in the external decoration - it is very reminiscent of a medieval fortress. However, it should be noted that the buildings themselves did not pursue fortification purposes, they were quite traditional during the period of the Bulgarian National Revival.
The monastery complex includes several two- and three-story buildings (utility and residential), a large cross-domed church.
The three-aisled cathedral church with three apses was erected on the model of the cathedrals of the Bachkovo and Gorno-Vodensky monasteries. In 1859, the temple was consecrated in honor of the Holy Week. Church inscriptions above the southern and northern gates of the temple keep the names of the donors, at whose expense the temple was built and decorated.
From the west, north and east, the temple skirted a U-shaped building, erected in the period from 1856 to 1859, but the western cell building has survived to this day. A little later, an L-shaped wing was added to the complex, which was restored in 1935. In the 1860s, a three-story residential tower, 9 meters high, was built on the territory of the monastery courtyard. Legends say that Angel Voevod, a Rhodope hayduk, has repeatedly found shelter in this tower. In the 1870s, at the northern gate, above Ayazmo, the Holy Spring, a chapel was erected, one-nave with an apse, and also with a massive cylinder-shaped vault. The chapel was painted in 1875. And in the 30s of the XX century, a bell tower was built.
In most of the churches in the Plovdiv district, services were held in Greek, in the Arapov Monastery, services were held in Bulgarian. During the Russian-Turkish war, the monastery was burned down. The restoration began after the liberation of the country from the Turkish occupation.
The monastery complex today is a cultural monument of the national level.
