In addition to its remarkable natural features, Stara Planina is also rich in valuable cultural and historical landmarks, which it has preserved during the centuries. One of its greatest wealth are the dozens monasteries nestled in its bosom. During the hard years of foreign rule the Bulgarian people looked for more concealed and secret places to create in them their Christian sanctuaries and keep the national spirit alive. There is no other mountain in Bulgaria, which has housed so many Christian temples and which has given so much to its people in its struggles for survival and spiritual rise!
The monastery is built in the style of the Bulgarian Renaissance. The chapel of St Nikolay the Miracle-Worker is the oldest but best preserved religious building in the area, though it lies outside the present-day monastery complex, at about half an hour walk south of it. The monastery’s church, “Assumption of Virgin Mary”, was built in 1835 by a master from the village of Peshtera, named Konstantin. The church was built of porous limestone and large bricks in alternating layters, and impressed foreign visitors with its architecture. The ornate interior and exterior of the church were painted between 1847 and 1849 by Zahari Zograph, a popular Bulgarian painter of the time, who also painted the central church of the Rila Monastery, the largest monastery in Bulgaria.
The Holy Virgin Troyan Monastery is situated in the northern folds of the Troyan Balkan – this is Central Stara Planina. On the left – Cherni Osum River. It is 10km south-east of Troyan, between the village of Oreshak and Cherni Osum. There is a marked tourist route from the town of Troyan to the Monastery – about 4 hours. The Monastery is famous for its miracle-working icon ”Holy Virgin’.’ It was a renowned literary centre, too and valuable library. During the time of the struggles for national freedom Troyan Monastery was a genuine revolutionary nest. All the monks took part in the revolutionary committee headed by the well-known Father Makarii. The Apostle of Freedom -Vasil Levski often came here, too. The working house of the Monastery – from 7.30 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. All the regular buses running between the town of Troyan and the village of Cherni Osum stop at the Monastery, around which a little tourist settlement of shops, restaurants, coffee bars developed. There are accommodation facilities in the Monastery itself – 2 suites and 10 double rooms with their own sanitary facilities and shower. Low prices. Romantic atmosphere, silence and calm.
The rude tourism catches everybody that searches peace ad peace among the nature. The bit manner of the hotels, matched to the mount-watering Bulgarian eating will make you to the Troyan Balkan. But the inspiration of beautiful murales of the Troyan religions residence cannot compare with a thing-other. Built at about 400 meters above sea level, the biggest monastery in the Balkan mountains is surrounded by beautiful forests and the Cherni Osum river, which gives a particular charm to the place. The monastery’s complex is quite developed as a tourist site with plenty of shopping outlets, restaurants and entertainment facilities in the neighbourhood.