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 "The World of Mimi - Friendship Overland!"RILA MONASTERY - THE MOST ANCIENT SANCTUARY According
to some sources the monk hermit John of Rila
(Ivan Rilski) who dwelt in a
stone cave not far from the monastery’s main complex founded the
Rila Monastery in the 10th century. The originator of the Rila
foundation who lived during the reign of the Bulgarian
Tsar
Peter (927-968) was raised to sainthood by the grateful
Christians in sign of homage to his lifework. The disciples of
John of Rila who lived at that same time should also be merited
for the creation of the monastery. In
The Middle Ages the Bulgarian Rulersshoved great interest in
the personality of the monk and the Rila cloister of which John of
Rila’s life history gives valuable evidence. Byzantine and
Bulgarian writers composed or made copies of sections of his life
which gave an account of moments of historical significance in the
political, social and cultural life of these ages. The Bulgarian
Tsars Ivan Asses II (1218-1241),
Kaliman (1241-1246),
Ivan
Alexander and Ivan Shishman (1371-1393) made lavish gifts to the
monastery. The Donation Deed of Tsar Ivan Shishman of 1378, which
has been preserved until this day at the monastery museum, attests
to the privileges that the monastery enjoyed and the extension of
its estates. All though the 12th-14th centuries there was an
upsurge of the monastery’s cultural and artistic activities.
Talented writers, painters and master-builders have left
fascinating manuscripts, church and residential buildings,
frescoes of high artistic value, remarkable works of the applied
arts, woodcuts, church plates and icon paintings. There
is a long story to say about Rila Monastery but you should go
there to hear it and to see the biggest monastery in Bulgaria in
Rila Mountain.
The
present-day appearance of the monastery is from the 19th
century. The construction of the residential buildings started in
1816. Spread on an area of 8800 square meters in the shape of an
irregular quadrangle, they form an enclosed ensemble. Rising in
the middle of the courtyard is a high stone fortress tower built
by the local feudal Sebastocrator Hrelyu in 1334-1335, and a small
church dated to 1343. In 1844 added to the tower was a small
belfry. Later on the monumental building of the monastery’s
Principal Church of the Nativity of the Virgin was erected where
the old Hrelyu Tower had once stood. The richly decorated walls
strengthen the impressiveness of the interior, a great diversity
of compositions depicting religious scenes, and a unique woodcut
iconostasis with azure fretwork. Abundant light penetrating
through the openings beneath the domes and the walls illuminates
the mural paintings, gold-plated fretwork, lanterns and
candlesticks thus lending optimism to the spiritual atmosphere as
a whole. The three-curved balance-beam pediment is remarkable,
crowning the church together with the three domes clearly
emphasized above the roof. The open arcade gallery with stone
columns and exquisitely curved arches with ornamental
inscriptions, blind cupolas and a gallery of pictorial scenes
representing subjects from the Gospel invite one to enter the
temple. The execution of the monumental mural paintings carried on
the traditions of the mediaeval art, yet the new age set its mark
in the way of color, purity of line and realism in the
characteristic trend of the Bulgarian Revival Period. The
individual stroke marks of many painters can be discerned in the
frescoes of the principal church but only Zahary Zograph
has signed and dated his works in 1844. The
four-storied residential buildings in which there are about 300
monastic cells, four chapels, an abbot’s room, a refectory, a
big kitchen, a library and guest rooms intended for the donors
from Koprivshtitsa, Teteven, Chirpan, and a number of premises for
household activities, give the irregular quadrangle shape of the
enclosed monastery courtyard. Several more churches, chapels and
holy grounds, situated in the proximity of the central buildings,
also belong to the Rila Monastery complex. The
Rila Monastery treasures some of the most impressive icon
paintings created in the 14th-19th centuries as a special favour
for the cloister. After
the liberation from Turkish invaders, the Rila Monastery acquired
new rights and made headway in its cultural and economic
development. In 1976 it was declared a national historical reserve
and in 1983 it was included into the UNESCO list of the
world cultural and historical heritage.
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