Belashtitsa Monastery: An Orthodox Monastery in Bulgaria
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.8
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Bulgaria
- Primary era
- Modern
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Bulgarian, Byzantine, Ottoman
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Monastery
On this page15 sections
History
Belashtitsa Monastery is an Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria, near Belashtitsa and approximately 10 to 12 kilometres south of Plovdiv. Dedicated to Saint George the Great Martyr and Victorious, it was founded as a male monastery and built between 1018 and 1020 in the Byzantine period by the military commander Nikephoros Xiphias, governor of Philippopolis, the historical name of present-day Plovdiv. After its completion, Xiphias lived at the monastery, which stood near his palatial fortress.
Before and during the Byzantine foundation
The monastery was established on a site that already held religious importance. A pre-Christian Thracian spring sanctuary dedicated to the Thracian Rider, a widely worshipped equestrian deity or heroic divine figure, occupied the location. The spring later became part of the monastery’s sacred landscape, while part of the earlier altar was incorporated into the church.
A tradition connects the foundation with the Byzantine victory at the Battle of Kleidion in 1014. Byzantine troops led by Xiphias outflanked the forces of Tsar Samuil, the Bulgarian ruler who commanded the opposing army. Another tradition says that prisoners captured during the campaign founded the nearby settlement that eventually became Belashtitsa. The monastery was dedicated to Saint George and founded close to Xiphias’s fortress.
According to research by V. Peev, Baron Konifil, associated with forces from the Austrian March, was buried in the monastery church in 1147 after dying at nearby Plovdiv during the Second Crusade. The church was reportedly chosen because it was then the only nearby church dedicated to Saint George.
Destruction and Ottoman-period changes
The monastery was probably burned in 1207 during Tsar Kaloyan’s campaign against Byzantine forces stationed in Philippopolis. It was destroyed again in 1364, when the Ottomans conquered Plovdiv and the surrounding region. New stone buildings, particularly in the eastern part of the complex, were erected at some point during the Ottoman period.
Travel accounts associated with John Bradbury place the burial of Baron Kronfield in the church in 1664. Kronfield was a Catholic member of the Viennese diplomatic mission in Constantinople. During part of the Ottoman period, probably by this time, the monastery was administered by the Roman Catholic Agatonia Diocese. It remained under that administration until the diocese moved to Pazardzhik at the beginning of the eighteenth century.
The monastery was probably burned again in 1757 during efforts to forcibly assimilate the population of the Rhodope region. Extensive rebuilding followed in the nineteenth century. The present church was constructed during the 1830s, while the kitchen or refectory block was built in 1836 and completed by 1838. Under Metropolitan Nikifor Lesvijski of Plovdiv, who held office from 1824 to 1850, the monastery became the summer residence of the Plovdiv metropolitans and entered its greatest period of expansion.
Nineteenth-century prosperity and divided administration
Mid-nineteenth-century records show that the monastery operated a substantial agricultural estate. Its livestock included 107 adult sheep, 30 yearling sheep, 109 lambs, 129 goats, 15 oxen, 7 cows, 27 calves, 14 mules, 7 horses, 6 pigs, 4 donkeys, and 14 beehives. The igumen, the head of an Orthodox monastery, was the hieromonk Josif, a monk who was also an ordained priest.
Although the Bulgarian Exarchate was established in 1870 as an autonomous Bulgarian Orthodox church organization opposed to the Greek-dominated Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, Belashtitsa remained under Greek clergy and that patriarchate’s jurisdiction. The monastery had been under Bulgarian Orthodox administration for much of the Bulgarian National Revival, but returned to Greek administration several years before Bulgaria’s liberation.
War, restoration, and the transfer to Bulgarian administration
In January 1878, during the Russo-Turkish War, Ottoman irregulars commanded by Pasha Faud used the monastery as a hiding place. Artillery from the Lithuanian Regiment shelled the complex, destroying part of the northern residential wing. The retreating irregulars then damaged and burned most of the remaining buildings. The church and courtyard fountain survived with comparatively little damage.
Much of the complex remained abandoned until 1880, when Greek clergy from Plovdiv returned and built a small three-room residence in the southeastern corner. Further buildings followed. The Plovdiv Greek metropolis appointed the hieromonk Nikodim as igumen, and he administered the monastery until 1906.
On the night or early morning of 20 June 1906, approximately 40 to 50 Bulgarian Orthodox believers from nearby villages expelled the Greek clergy and transferred the monastery to Bulgarian administration. The Bulgarian Exarchate appointed the hieromonk Makarij Petrov as its first Bulgarian igumen. At that time, the monastery owned about 44.45 hectares of vineyards and 12 hectares of meadows in addition to its grounds. Its condition was poor, and part of the western wall of the eastern wing collapsed on 17 June 1911. Inadequate administration during the wars of 1912 to 1918 caused further deterioration.
Twentieth-century changes and present community
During the 1920s, legislation confiscated the monastery’s lands outside the central complex and distributed them between the villages of Belashtitsa and Novosel, now Galabovo. Much of the damaged complex was demolished in 1923 and 1924. In 1930 and 1931, the remaining residential buildings and the church were restored, and a bell tower and small chapel were constructed. The work was financed mainly by the Plovdiv metropolitan authority and partly by donations from the faithful.
The monks left in 1934, and, with the consent of the Plovdiv metropolitan authority, the complex temporarily became a municipal poorhouse for 42 beggars from Plovdiv. Administration was entrusted to the hieromonk Antim of Muldava Monastery. About 30 hectares of land were returned to the monastery in 1935 from the 48.3 hectares confiscated earlier. After the Bulgarian Communist Party came to power in 1944, a 1948 decree again confiscated land. Twenty-five hectares remained under monastery administration, while 10 hectares were distributed to small farmers. Further confiscations reduced the land under its administration to 15 hectares, with tobacco cultivation required there.
The monastery probably became a female community during the 1950s. It was designated a cultural monument of local significance in 1980 because of its architectural and construction value. The monastery marked its millennium in 2020. It is now inhabited by an abbess, several nuns, and assistants. Saint George’s Day, celebrated on 6 May, remains the principal annual observance. A service is held for pilgrims, followed by the preparation of a traditional kurban, a communal sacrificial or commemorative meal associated with religious observance in the Balkans. During fasting periods, baked fish is served instead, and people celebrating their name day traditionally give the monastery gifts or money.
Remains
The monastery occupies the northern slope of the western Rhodopes, in the Chernatitsa mountain section. An original rubble-stone enclosure wall forms a rectangle oriented toward the southeast, with the entrance on the northwest side. The sloping ground creates two courtyard levels, separated by a natural-stone retaining wall. The church stands on the higher southern level, while the lower courtyard is planted with trees. A pipe fountain survives below the church, and the present complex includes the church, chapel, residential and service buildings, bell tower, courtyard fountain, and enclosure wall.
Residential and service complex
Wings and courtyards
The earliest complex consisted mainly of a church and service buildings, many of them built largely from wood. These structures were later replaced by stone buildings. At its nineteenth-century extent, the monastery included residential and service wings, a large kitchen block, a building for visitors, and a structure for keeping sacrificial cattle.
The southern wing occupied the highest part of the complex and rose three storeys, with full-length chardaks, or open upper terraces. The other three wings were two storeys high, with stone ground floors and internal terraces. Two former mill buildings were demolished around 1950. Today, the eastern wing and the eastern part of the northern wing survive as standing residential and service buildings, while the foundations of the western part of the northern wing remain clearly visible.
Bell tower and southeastern residence
The bell tower stands in front of the entrance to the northern wing. Its bells came from Byala Cherkva Monastery. A small residence occupies the southeastern corner of the complex, where it was built after 1880. The residential and service area also contains the chapel.
Church and sacred features
Church of Saint George
The Church of Saint George the Great Martyr and Victorious is a single-nave, single-apse, domeless building with an enclosed inner narthex and a more open outer porch. A narthex is an entrance or transitional space at the western end of an Orthodox church. The rectangular nave is lit by four windows in each of its northern and southern walls, and the exterior is whitewashed.
The church was built partly over the foundations of its medieval predecessor. Much of the earlier church’s heavily vaulted narthex was retained, as was a small section of its collapsed massive vault in the western nave. During the nineteenth-century rebuilding, a wooden ceiling was installed beneath the surviving vault fragment. The church was consecrated in August 1839 by Metropolitan Nikifor of Plovdiv.
Wall paintings and earlier altar
Medieval wall paintings survive in the remains of the narthex. The nave was painted by Zahari Zograf, an artist of the Bulgarian National Revival. In 1930, plaster covered the murals because their Greek inscriptions were considered inappropriate for a Bulgarian Orthodox church. Additional wall paintings have since been added, including works made after 2000. The names of donors and the years of execution appear beneath these later paintings.
Part of the altar from the pre-Christian Thracian spring sanctuary is preserved inside the church, in front of the altar table. The spring associated with the Thracian Rider sanctuary remains beneath the church porch, linking the current sacred building with the earlier religious use of the site.
Life-Giving Spring and courtyard fountain
The sacred spring, also called the Life-Giving Spring, rises beneath the church’s outer porch. Its spring chamber is reached through a small annex at the church’s southwest corner, where steps descend to the water. The spring is traditionally regarded as ancient and miraculous, and reports of miraculous healings continue.
A separate stone fountain in the courtyard was built between 1831 and 1833. A marble plaque dated 25 September 1831 records its construction during the administration of the igumen Antim Muldavski.
Chapel of the Protection of the Mother of God
The Chapel of the Protection of the Mother of God is located inside the northern wing. During winter, the nuns gather there for the Hours. The chapel preserves the wonder-working icons of the Mother of God Tricheirousa and the Mother of God with the Seven Arrows. The latter icon dates from 1903.
