Bachkovo Monastery
Encyclopedia
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
is an important monument of Christian architecture and one of the largest and oldest Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. It is located on the right bank of the Chepelare River
Chepelare River
The Chepelare River is a river in Bulgaria that takes its source from Rozhen Peak in the Rhodopes. The river's length is about 87 km and two hydroelectric plants are constructed on it, with a total maximum power of 2,400 kW.The Chepelare River runs through the town of Chepelare, the Bachkovo...
, 189 km from Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
and 10 km south of Asenovgrad
Asenovgrad
Asenovgrad is a town in central southern Bulgaria, part of Plovdiv Province.-History:Asenovgrad was founded by the Thracians as Stenímachos around 300–400 BC. In 72 BC the city was captured by the troops of the Roman Empire as part of the Roman expansion towards the Black Sea. After a long period...
, and is directly subordinate to the Holy Synod
Holy Synod
In several of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches and Eastern Catholic Churches, the patriarch or head bishop is elected by a group of bishops called the Holy Synod...
of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church
Bulgarian Orthodox Church
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church - Bulgarian Patriarchate is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church with some 6.5 million members in the Republic of Bulgaria and between 1.5 and 2.0 million members in a number of European countries, the Americas and Australia...
. The monastery is known and appreciated for the unique combination of Byzantine, Georgian
Georgian people
The Georgians are an ethnic group that have originated in Georgia, where they constitute a majority of the population. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, European Union, United States, and South America....
and Bulgarian culture, united by the common faith.
History
The monastery was founded in 1083 by Prince Gregory PakourianosGregory Pakourianos
Gregory Pakourianos was a politician and military commander in the Byzantine service. He was the founder of the Monastery of the Mother of God Petritzonitissa in Bachkovo and author of its typikon...
, a prominent statesman and military commander in the Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
service, as a Byzantine Iberian Orthodox monastery. He set up a seminary for the youth at the monastery. The curriculum in the first place included religion, as well as mathematics, history and music. In the 13th century, Byzantine Iberian Monks of the Petritsioni (Bachkovo) Monastery lost the domination over the monastery, but their traditions were preserved until the beginning of 14th century and an Armenian Gospel of the 10th century lived to this day.
During the time of the Second Bulgarian Empire
Second Bulgarian Empire
The Second Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state which existed between 1185 and 1396 . A successor of the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conquered by the Ottomans in the late 14th-early 15th century...
, Bachkovo Monastery was patronized by Tsar Ivan Alexander
Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria
Ivan Alexander , also known as John Alexander, ruled as Emperor of Bulgaria from 1331 to 1371, during the Second Bulgarian Empire. The date of his birth is unknown. He died on February 17, 1371. The long reign of Ivan Alexander is considered a transitional period in Bulgarian medieval history...
, which is evidenced by an image of him on the archs of the ossuary's narthex
Narthex
The narthex of a church is the entrance or lobby area, located at the end of the nave, at the far end from the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex was a part of the church building, but was not considered part of the church proper...
. It is believed that the founder of Tarnovo Literary School
Tarnovo Literary School
The Tarnovo Literary School of the late 14th and 15th century was a major medieval Bulgarian cultural academy with important contribution to the Medieval Bulgarian literature established in the capital of Bulgaria Tarnovo...
and last patriarch of the mediaeval Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Euthymius
Patriarch Evtimiy of Bulgaria
Saint Evtimiy of Tarnovo was Patriarch of Bulgaria between 1375 and 1393. Regarded as one of the most important figures of medieval Bulgaria, Evtimiy was the last head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in the Second Bulgarian Empire...
, was exiled by the Turks and worked in the school of the monastery in the early 15th century.
Although the monastery survived the first waves of Turkish invasion in Bulgarian lands, it was later looted and destroyed, but restored near the end of the 15th century. The refectory, whose mural paintings by an anonymous painter bear a significant artistic value, was reconstructed in 1601 and the Church of Mary, still preserved today, was finished in 1604.
Bachkovo Monastery is the final resting place of both Patriarch Euthymius (1330–1404) and Patriarch Cyril
Patriarch Cyril
Patriarch Cyril* Kirill I of Moscow * Patriarch Cyril of Bulgaria * Patriarch Cyril I of Alexandria * Patriarch Cyril II of Alexandria* Patriarch Cyril of Constantinople** Patriarch Cyril III of Constantinople...
(1953–1971).
Ossuary
Ossuary
An ossuary is a chest, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the skeletal remains are removed and placed in an ossuary...
, which has a specific architectural design and ancient frescoes, and is situated 300 m away from the contemporary monastery complex. It looks inaccessible when viewed from the north. The building has two storeys, of which only one can be seen from the south. From architectural point of view the plan of the ossuary looks is foreign to the local traditions. It is reminiscent of Syrian-Palestine mortuaries with its two floors of identical design. Each floor has a narthex, a single nave and an apse. The ground floor is intended for a crypt and has 14 burial niches. The apse on the upper floor, the church proper (known as The Holy Trinity Church), is semicircular on the inside and pentagonal on the outside with 3 openings to let some daylight into the altarplace. The building is vaulted. The ossuary is interesting with the methods of its construction. It represents a mixture of Armenian, Georgian and Byzantine building traditions. The facade is attractively diversified with 8 blind niches and a succession of layers of brick and stone, joined together with mortar.
Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of the Virgin Mary (dating from 1604) is the place where a valuable icon of the Virgin Mary Eleusa from 1310 is kept (brought from Georgia). According to the legend, the icon is wonder-working, attracting many pilgrims. This church was built in the place of the monastery's oldest church destroyed by the Turks. The building has survived to this day in its original structure of a three- aisled, cruciform domed basilica with three pentagonal apses. A silver- gilded cross rising from the dome bears the inscription "Always win!" in Georgian. The murals in the spacious narthex were painted in 1643 and depict a life-size portraits of Georgi and his son Constantine, who were high-ranking notables in Istanbul and donors to the church. The frescoes in the nave were painted much later, in 1850, by Joan Mosch (master Mosko). The two central icons in the iconostasis are exactly dated - 1793. these the icons of The Holy Virgin and Jesus Christ. The woodwork — iconostasis, bishop's throne and the like, dates from the 18th century.Church of the Archangels
Another medieval church of the monastery is the Archangels' Church dating back probably to the 12th century, the vaulted open narthex of which was painted by Zahari ZografZahari Zograf
Zahariy Hristovich Dimitrov , better known as Zahari Zograf is arguably the most famous Bulgarian painter of the Bulgarian National Revival, noted for his church mural paintings and icons and often regarded as the founder of secular art in Bulgaria due to the introduction of everyday life...
in 1841. The inside of the church was painted by the artist Joan Mosch in 1846.
Diospyros tree
The broad branches of a DiospyrosDiospyros
Diospyros is a genus of about 450–500 species of deciduous and evergreen trees. The majority are native to the tropics, with only a few species extending into temperate regions. They are commonly known as ebony or persimmon trees...
Lotus tree, brought from Georgia more than two centuries ago, stretch over the courtyard.
Works of art
The museum of the monastery has a rich exhibition of church plate, icons, books, the sword of Friedrich Barbarossa, a sultan's firman from 1452, a wood-carved cross with miniatures. A fresco of the DoomsdayDoomsday
Doomsday may refer to:* End times, a prophesied time of tribulation that would precede the Second Coming of the Messiah in Abrahamic religions-Fiction:* Doomsday , a 1927 novel by Warwick Deeping* Doomsday , a DC comic book character...
, painted by Zahari Zograf in 1850, is retained in the Saint Nicholas Church and is thought of as one of the most interesting works of art of the Bulgarian National Revival
Bulgarian National Revival
The Bulgarian National Revival , sometimes called the Bulgarian Renaissance, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian people under Ottoman rule...
.
The “Panorama” mural of the Bachkovo monastery
The “Panorama” mural, which is running along the outside wall of the refectory, represents the history of Bachkovo monastery pictorially. It provides a bird’s eye view of the monastery with all the surrounding buildings at the time of the painting.
Under the influence of different atmospheric conditions like rain, snow, fog, cold, wind, snow, the biggest scenic mural on the Balkan peninsula has preserved the freshness of its paint. The painter Alexi Atanasov, a Bulgarian from the town of Negush, worked in this region at the end of the 19th Century.
We can determine the year of the decoration by an inscription that existed on the outside walls of the western monastery wing, which was burned in 1902. This inscription read: “The following depiction was finished under the ministry of Abbot Cyril on 22 July 1846. The depiction has been made by my own hand, Alexi Atanasov from Negush.” As a model, the painter used a copper print that was made in Vienna with the financial help of the merchant from Samokov, Petar Rana, in 1807. Alexi Atanasov also added valuable details and pictorial elements of his own. The “Panorama” mural gives us rich information about the architectural ensemble of the monastery in the 19th Century. The northern facades of the churches St Archangels Michael and Gabriel and The Holy Virgin, were painted too. The monastic buildings with their big buttresses on the river side can be seen. Central place was given to the founders of the monastery, who were depicted here in monastic attire. The Emperor Alexius Comnenus is among them. At their side there are also the donors from the 14th Century. George and Gabriel. The surroundings of the monastery weren’t omitted either: the nunnery in Assenovgrad; Assen’s fortress; the chapels near the monastery. The painter gave us a good idea from ethnographical point of view, about the clothing of the aristocracy from Plovdiv and the festal clothing of the women in the Rhodopes, through the group of the people that are following the Procession of the Miraculous Icon. Details, such as the well in the northern courtyard and the belfry in The church of the Archangels, weren’t missed either. Scenes from the passionals of the two Saints George and Demetrius are depicted at the side of the “Panorama”.
The “Panorama” mural is exceptionally interesting not only because of its sheer size, but also because of its artistic impact and craftsmanship. The paints were made after a recipe by the painter himself, probably from grasses mixed with egg emulsion. The used painting technique is “fresco buono”http://www.noteaccess.com/MATERIALS/Fresco.htm, which is a mural art of painting that is applied on a smooth moist plaster. When the water evaporates the images emerge on the surface. The implication of this technique, together with the great deal of artistic mastery, is the reason why these murals look so fresh even today.
Cultural associations
- Bachkovo Monastery is one of the locations in the 2005 bestseller novel The HistorianThe HistorianThe Historian interweaves the history and folklore of Vlad Ţepeş, a 15th-century prince of Wallachia known as "Vlad the Impaler", and his fictional equivalent Count Dracula together with the story of Paul, a professor; his 16-year-old daughter; and their quest for Vlad's tomb...
by Elizabeth KostovaElizabeth KostovaElizabeth Johnson Kostova is an American author best known for her debut novel The Historian.-Early life:Elizabeth Z. Johnson was born in New London, Connecticut and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee where she graduated from the Webb School of Knoxville...
.
External links
- Nikola Gruev's photo gallery of the Bachkovo Monastery
- Bulgaria.com page about the monastery
- Bachkovo Monastery at Bulgarian Monastery.com
- Byzantine Monastic Foundation Documents
- About Typicon
- Anna Comnena. “The Alexiad”, Translated by E.R.A. Sewter, Pengium Books Ltd., London, 1969, (reprinted in 2003), Pp. 560. Оnline http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/AnnaComnena-Alexiad02.html
- Encyclopédie Universalis. Petritzos