RILA MONASTERY

The pearl of Bulgarian tourism, however, is the Rila Monastery, the center of Orthodox religion and culture.

Founded by the hermit Ivan of Rila, patron saint and heavenly protector of Bulgaria. In it you can see the tomb of the last Bulgarian king Boris III who reigned until the end of World War II, before the communist era.

The monastery has several museums – the museum with the relics (precious objects, ecclesiastical precious objects, ecclesiastical gifts, artistic, handicraft and scientific works of the monks); the medieval tower of the 14th century, the ancient kitchen of the monastery, the ethnographic museum, the monk’s room and the gallery of icons.

4 km from the monastery is the cave where the hermit spent most of his life living in nature and where he founded the monastery in the 10th century.