Kilifarevo Monastery

The today’s complex of the Kilifarevo monastery, St Birth of Virgin Mary, lies in the valley of the Belitsa river, about 4km to the southeast of the town of Kilifarevo (close to Veliko Turnovo). At the very beginning of its existence, the cloister was situated on the nearby hill.

It is thought that initially, the Kilifarevo monastery was built between 1348 and 1350. Its founder is the eminent Bulgarian clergyman, Teodosii of Turnovo, who with the help of the then-ruler, Tsar Ivan Alexander, transformed the cloister into one of the most important centres of the Bulgarian education and literature of the Middle Ages. A Kilifarevo school of literature needed little time to be built and in 1360, this was already teaching 460 students, the most distinguished of which was the future Bulgarian Patriarch, Evtimii of Turnovo.

In addition to the church, currently the complex also includes two wonderful local buildings in authentic Renaissance style, the older of which dates back to 1849. The monastery is declared a national culture of Bulgaria.

The Kilifarevo monastery offers accommodation in good conditions. The prices (as of the summer of 2004) are 6 levas per night in a room with a bathroom and toilet rooms in the new residential building and 4 levas per night in a room without a bathroom and toilet rooms in the old building. One can have food in a mehana (also known as a pub) about 500 meters away from the monastery’s gates.

The monastery is easy to reach following the road to the south of Veliko Turnovo, which crosses the Balkan mountain at the Haimboaz Pass. The town of Kilifarevo lies about 12km away from the monastery, while along the road from the town to the monastery there are numerous road signs.