The Stob Pyramids are located near the village of  Stob,  in the western approaches of the Rila Mountain, next to the Rila Monastery, Bulgaria.  These are stone andearth formations, 30-40 m deep. The sediments are colored rusty-brown,  reddish and dark yellow and, because of their location, the pyramids are especially beautiful at sunset or at moonlight. Many of the formations are crowned with rock “hats” – large stone blocks sizing 120 by 80 cm.

Under the influence of wind, rain and snow, the form of the pyramids changes, some of them vanish, the stone hats fall and new pyramids are born. The pyramids are separated in two distinct groups, called by the people with many different names – Kulite (”The Towers”), Chukite ( “The Rocky Peaks”), Samodivskite komini ( “The Samodivas Chimneys”) -the samodivas are mythical female creatures living in the forests, Neviastata (”The bridge”), etc. The most famous group is called “Svatovete” (”Thein-laws”).

According to the legend, many years ago a wedding procession from the nerby village of Kolibite took a young girl from the Stob village as a bride. The custom in those days was thet the bride must be chosen and bought by the relatives of the groom for him to marry her. Also the young couple must not know each other, so the girl had her face veiled.

When the wedding procession passed by the southern slope of bride reveling her. Outraged by the sinful act of the groom’s best men tried ti kiss her. Outraged sinful act of the groom’s best man, the in-laws turned to stone and stayed like this forever – magnificent with their stone hats…. There is also a legend about the doomed love between a Bulgarian  girl and Turkish boy. They could never marry because of their  different religions. Desperate, the girl threw herself off the rock and on this spot a pyramids formed which was called Neviastata (”The bride”). A mighty stone tower once existed on this site. It was told to be as high as the Rila Mountain and from its top one could see as far Macedonia. The tower was of great importance to the local towns and hamlets and despite their beauty the site where the pyramids now stand was  then known as Kulata (”The tower”). But a strong earthquake cracked it crumblet.