【The largest monastery in the Balkans】
The Rila Monastery is a famous ancient monastery in Bulgaria and the largest monastery in the Balkans, located south of the capital Sofia. The excitement of Sophia is in the suburbs, and it takes two or three hours to drive, go out to visit the attractions, and it is a whole day to go back and forth, which is really tiring! I didn't expect the weather here to be so hot at the beginning of June, the sun was so strong, and it was useless to rub a lot of sunscreen.
Nestled in the Riosco Valley, the highest mountain in the Balkans, the Monastery was built in the mid-10th century by the hermit Rila and was the base camp of the second friars of the Balkan countries. The Rila Monastery has been supported and respected by the Bulgarian rulers since its creation, and almost every Tsar of the Second Bulgarian Empire has made a large contribution to the monastery and has always been the cultural and spiritual center of Bulgaria.
The founder, Saint Ríos, used to live in a nearby cave to monastic the road, and now there are still many people in this grass liao who are very interested in climbing the mountain peak to visit, and it takes half an hour to climb under the scorching sun, which is commendable.
In the early 14th century, the Rila Monastery was destroyed by an earthquake. Later, the monastery was rebuilt and a fortified castle was built. The most recent reconstruction was in 1834~1860,
It has a peculiar shape, resembling a zebra from afar, and the remains of a medieval monastery and a monument to the founder of the lira are still preserved in the monastery.
In the early days, there were more than 400 monks in the monastery, but now there are only 10 left, according to the tour guide, when the Communist Party was in power, religion was not allowed, the government drove these monks out of the monastery, the monastery is now empty, but there are so many empty rooms for tourists to stay and practice for a few days, but it does not seem to be warm, tourists from all over the world are very warm. Taking pictures with my daughter here, the building is too big and looks very small, perhaps this is the spirit of the monastery, and you must see yourself as subtle.
There is a beautiful old church here, but unfortunately you are not allowed to take pictures, the installation paintings inside are very shocking, and only the beautiful scenery remains in the memory. Fortunately, the walls around the building are painted with stories from the Christian Bible to life. In 1983 it was listed as a World Heritage Site.
