Churches & monasteries
Painted monasteries hidden in the mountains, early Christian basilicas, medieval churches and Ottoman mosques that few travellers visit. Each page tells the story and shows what else is nearby.
Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors
33 places
Aladzha Monastery
Varna · medieval cave monastery in a forest cliff
Albotin Monastery
Deleyna · 14th-century rock monastery and Easter dances
Arapovo Monastery
Asenovgrad · fortress-like monastery with a holy spring and tower
Bachkovo Monastery
Asenovgrad · Georgian-founded monastery with a 12th-century ossuary
Basarbovo Monastery
Ruse · active Orthodox monastery carved into a river cliff
Bishop's Basilica of Philippopolis
Plovdiv · giant 4th-century church with exotic-bird mosaics
Boboshevo Monastery
Boboshevo · a small church inside, painted from floor to vault
Boyana Church
Sofia · tiny medieval church with 240 lifelike painted figures
Church of Christ Pantocrator
Nesebar · medieval church with lavish patterned walls
Church of St Demetrius of Thessaloniki, Veliko Tarnovo
Veliko Tarnovo · church linked to the 1185 uprising
Church of the Holy Trinity in Bansko
Bansko · a modest-looking church with a grand Revival interior
Dragalevtsi Monastery
Sofia · tsar's monastery with 15th-century frescoes
Dryanovo Monastery
Dryanovo · working monastery that fought in the April Uprising
Dzhumaya Mosque
Plovdiv · early Ottoman mosque with a disputed birth date
Glozhene Monastery
Teteven · monastery on a rock ledge, once a hideout of Vasil Levski
Great Basilica, Pliska
Pliska · giant 9th-century cathedral and monastery of the first capital
Holy Forty Martyrs Church
Veliko Tarnovo · royal church of 1230 with tsars' tombs and columns
Ibrahim Pasha Mosque
Razgrad · Ottoman mosque with birdhouses in its walls
Klisurski Monastery
Berkovitsa · a large working nunnery under Todorini Kukli
Round Church, Preslav
Preslav · ruined Golden Church with a plan unique in Bulgaria
Rozhen Monastery
Melnik · Pirin's largest monastery, frescoes and sacred icon
Ruen Monastery
Skrino · new monastery near St John of Rila's first cave
Saint George Rotunda Church
Sofia · Roman rotunda with layers of medieval frescoes
Saint Petka of the Saddlemakers Church
Sofia · medieval church over a Roman crypt in the metro
Saint Sophia Church
Sofia · early Christian basilica above a Roman necropolis
Seven Saints Church
Sofia · a mosque turned church, built over a Roman shrine
Sokolski Monastery
Gabrovo · Revival convent, eight-tap fountain, rebel history
The Memorial Temple of the Birth of Christ (Shipka)
Shipka · Russian-style memorial church with gilded domes
Tombul Mosque
Shumen · Bulgaria's largest mosque, with a 25 m dome
Transfiguration Monastery
Veliko Tarnovo · fresco-rich monastery in the Yantra gorge
Troyan Monastery
Oreshak · Zograf frescoes and the Three-Handed Virgin
Vrachesh Monastery
Botevgrad · active monastery born from a medieval victory
Zemen Monastery
Zemen · 11th-century church with rare medieval frescoes