Il Monastero Di Rila 🇧🇬 Bulgaria

The monastery of San Giovanni di Rila rises at 1147 meters above sea level, 117 kilometers south of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. It stands in the middle of a smelly coniferous forest that covers Mount Rila. It is the largest and most famous Eastern Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria and is immersed in a protected forest, known as the Natural Park of the monastery of Rila. The conservation of the territory is closely linked to the Bulgarian Orthodox Christianity, the country's main religion. Founded in the 10th century, it is considered one of the most important historical, cultural and architectural monuments in Bulgaria. The monastery of Rila is a symbol of national identity. It represents the preservation of Bulgarian culture and faith, despite centuries of foreign domination. During the 500 years of Ottoman rule, it was the cradle of religion, culture and the Bulgarian language and the fulcrum of an intellectual movement that subsequently led to the liberation of the country. Seen from the outside, the monastery appears to us like a fortress. The monastery complex is, in fact, surrounded by a stone wall, 24 meters high, in the shape of an irregular pentagon. The main entrance contrasts with the austerity of the stone walls. Once the main threshold is covered, the visitor is struck by the architectural style that characterizes the monastery structure. It is a combination of arches and columns, stairs with wooden cladding and carved verandas, as well as a residential building made up of over 300 cells. From a stylistic point of view, the monastery is a typical example of the Bulgarian architectural renaissance of the 18th and 19th centuries. This monument symbolizes the realization of the Slavic cultural identity after centuries of occupation. In the centre of the inner courtyard stands the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin. It has three buildings, two side chapels and an open porch. The work of building the church, as it appears to us today, covered by five domes, was completed in 1838, but it took another 23 years to complete the decoration, mainly by cutting lines and painting murals. The facade of the church leads the visitor to look north, towards the high serrated crests of Mount Rila, which seem to echo in the portications of the buildings. The architectural system of this imposing church is the result of the innovative, flexible and bold spirit with which the tradition has been interpreted, and is a typical feature of the period of national renaissance. The church was inherited by Pavel Ivanovich, master builder of the town of Krimin, in the Bulgarian region of Kosturre. It dates back to a pre-existing church of the 14th century, dating back to the time of the local feudal lord, Sebastocrator Relio, which was almost destroyed by a fire in 1833. The compositional scheme includes medieval elements with Baroque spatial principles. This approach, which distinguishes the Bulgarian ecclesiastical architecture and which can be found in other works of that period. Among the buildings of the complex, the Torre Relio stands out for its particular relevance, the only original building of the monastery that has been preserved. Built in 1335 by Sebastocrator Relio, to serve as a defensive tower in the courtyard, it is 23 metres high and its walls are almost 2 metres thick. The defensive feature of its architecture is enlivened by decorative bricks. The interior of the tower is divided into a ground floor, covered by a suspended vault, and into five floors with wooden solas. The last floor houses a chapel and features rich mural paintings. To access the upper floors, you need to climb the stone stairs built inside the walls. The open porch of the church, which lies on stone columns and perfect arches all around, enriched by ornamental inscriptions, blind domes and a gallery decorated with scenes taken from the Gospels, invites visitors to enter. The narthex of the church is made up of a series of small domes that lie on the walls, and on a porch that extends along the entire west side and part of the north and south side. Both the external walls, protected by the rain thanks to this porch, and the domes are richly painted and present themselves as a sort of visual manual of Christianity. Raising the head, the observer can admire the domes and the pinnacles, decorated with scenes of brilliant colours depicting Jesus and the Virgin in Paradise. These monumental parietal paintings carry on the traditions of medieval art. However, they are recognisable innovative elements, typical of the style of the period of the Bulgarian Renaissance. The purity of the lines, the realism of the subjects and the way in which the colour has been spread. The general effect of this multiplicity of architectural styles, of the various natural materials used for the columns, the arches and the balustrades, but also the colourful frames and the rich parietal paintings of the external porch, are of strong impact. In the parietal paintings of the Church, both internal and external, there is a rigid adherence to the traditional pictorial canon and a realistic presentation of the images. Numerous painters, from the schools of Bansko and Samokov, have contributed to the realisation of the pictorial cycle, but only Zahari Zograf has signed and dated his works dating back to the year 1844. The iconostasis of the Church is a real masterpiece that strikes the viewer for its imposing dimensions, for the rich lines, and for the architectural elements that make it up, including a central denture. The Church is also noteworthy for its frescoes that cover every centimetre of the walls and ceilings and serve as elements of inspiration for the devotee. The frescoes on the lower part of the walls depict, in dark tones, scenes of hell and universal judgment, with demons that torment and tempt the souls of the damned. The monastery of Rila was founded in the 10th century by the Christian hermit Ivan Rischi, or Giovanni di Rila, who for 40 years lived and wandered around the mountains of Rila. Although he lived in isolation, his reputation as a man of great religious faith soon spread, until he founded a monastery near a cave in the mountains where he lived. It is said that Ivan Rischi, the patron saint of Bulgaria, performed numerous miracles, such as healing. He died in 946, and his relics became an object of veneration for the pilgrims who still today visit the monastery where they are kept. After the death of the saint, the complex began to grow progressively until it hosted hundreds of monks who dedicated themselves to prayer, meditation, and the transcription of sacred texts on manuscripts. This is how the monastery became famous as a centre of music and Christian art. Starting in the Middle Ages, roads were built for pilgrims who came to Rila. For Orthodox Christians, the monastery of Rila is a sacred and recognized place, and as such, it has become an important pilgrimage destination. It is located in the centre of the main pilgrimage routes in the Balkans. Since the time of its foundation, the monastery has enjoyed privileges and great respect. From the 13th century until the fall of Bulgaria under Ottoman rule, every Bulgarian tsar offered generous donations to the monastery. The act of donation of Tsar Ivan Shishman in 1378 testifies to the royal favour enjoyed by the monastery, which allowed it to grow until it became a cultural and religious centre of reference for that time. The monastery was almost entirely destroyed by the Ottoman invasions, but in the 15th century it witnessed the rebirth of the monastic settlement, largely thanks to the sponsorship of the Russian Orthodox Church, which gave the monks and visitors books, money, and accessories for the church. The monastery complex, which became an important pilgrimage destination, continued to grow and attract the faithful and their resources from all over the Orthodox world. Today it is a very popular and the monastic activities have grown so much that it was decided to expand the structure to accommodate the many pilgrims who come every year. The arrival of the Ottomans in Bulgaria at the end of the 14th century was followed by a period of numerous incursions that led to the destruction of the monastery around the middle of the 15th century. Some Bulgarian churches were allowed to continue to profess their faith, but others were converted into mosques. The Ottoman leaders gave the Greek Orthodox Church control of most of the Bulgarian Orthodox institutions. However, the monastery of Rila retained its clergy of Bulgarian nationality and continued to celebrate liturgies and rites in Bulgarian. Thanks to the donations of the Russian Orthodox Church and the monastery of Rossikon on Mount Athos, at the end of the 15th century the monastery of Rila was rebuilt by three brothers. Originating from the region of Kyustendil in western Bulgaria, they transported the relics of St. John of Rila to the monastery complex. The monastery also became the place where thousands of miniature manuscripts, painted icons, and religious objects were carved with great precision, as well as large decorative panels known as iconostasi. Between the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, the monastery of Rila became the fulcrum of a process of national consciousness that would subsequently, in 1878, take shape in the movement for the liberation from Ottoman rule and the independence of Bulgaria. A series of fires destroyed much of the monastery, which was built in its current form by some of the most renowned artists and architects of the country. The almost 300 monastic cells that make up the residential area are located in the inner courtyard of the monastery. The monastic building, divided into four floors, includes four chapels, the abbot's room, a kitchen, a library, and some rooms for the beneficiaries. It stands out for its unique stylistic peculiarities, such as the large verandas, the carved decorative lines, the paintings, and the furniture. The 60,000 acres of natural park surrounding the monastery complex are surrounded by glacial lakes and rivers. It is no coincidence that in the ancient language of the Thracians, the term Rila means water. The landscape is characterized by meadows, centuries-old coniferous forests and alpine vines. Bulgaria is the third European country with the greatest biodiversity, although the natural park occupies only about a quarter of the national territory. The Monastery of Rila is the most imposing monastery complex in the whole country. Its architectural and artistic grandeur meant that it was included in the list of natural and cultural sites as a World Heritage Site under the patronage of UNESCO. The construction of the Monastery of Rila was an attempt to create a more regular and formal just as the Gora of Athens and the Roman Forum were created little by little starting from pre-existing structures. The Church of the Virgin and the ancient medieval tower of Irelia, aligned side by side, are oriented along the east-west axis, typical of Eastern Orthodox architecture. The Monastery of Rila extends over an area of about 8,800 square metres, half of which is occupied by the monastery, 1,000 square metres by the church, 80 by the tower of Irelia and the remaining part by the courtyard. This monastery is widely considered an excellently successful Although the various buildings are not all aligned, the complex is collected and harmonious thanks to the fact that the individual components have a symmetrical and balanced system, thus offering the opportunity to discover and explore the structure from different perspectives. The church is a basilica with three naves, covered by five domes, each of which has a cross-plant inscribed. The result is a church that compromises the Byzantine ideal, which would like a central plant with a long nave, along which the processions The Eastern Orthodox Church attaches particular importance to light and darkness. For this reason, a kind of semi-darkness On the sides of the main door of the apse, we find icons depicting the Virgin and Christ the Pantocrator. For over 1,000 years, the monastery of Rila and the surrounding territory have been a source of spiritual and natural nourishment for the Bulgarian people. Today, this venerated tradition A curiosity that characterizes Rila is its unique collection of vintage cars and motorcycles. The history of Bulgaria is marked by a series of ambitious attempts, but short-lived, to produce automobiles. The collection includes about 50 significant cars from a historical point of view, all made in Bulgaria. Each of them is an important testimony to the development of the beginnings of Bulgarian automotive history. The monastery offers a spectacular view of the surrounding villages.