Lopushanski Monastery

Located at 105 km from Sofia, in the Western Balkan Mountain Range, the Lopushanski Monastery complex stuns the eye by its architecture, proportions, stone sculptures, and relief on the outer walls. In the past the place of the present-day monastery was occupied by another cloister, built during the Second Bulgarian State but destroyed completely at the time of the Ottoman invasion in the second half of the 14th century. The local stories tell that around 1850, the villager Atanas from the nearby village of Lopushna together with a priest named Petko from another nearby village, Glavanovtsi, decided to rebuild the monastery. With common efforts they cleaned up the place, built a simple cottage and hanged an old icon into it.

Gradually, other people also started to come to the place and put their efforts into the reconstruction. Thus, the Lopushanski Monastery was created. Its today’s complex dates back to 1850-1853 and is devoted to Sveti Yoan Predtecha (St. John the Precursor). Later, the monastery became a favourite place of the prominent Bulgarian poet and writer, Ivan Vazov, who created a part of his world famous novel, Under the Yoke, while staying at the monastery. The Lopushanski Monastery has been officially proclaimed a National Monument of Culture.