Rila Monastery & Boyana Church
The millenary beauty of Bulgarian art
A tour to these two attractions, monuments declared World Heritage Sites by Unesco, is not to be missed from Sofia.
From the previous research done by Mr. @tripticity_, we had concluded that it was best to hire a tour but only as a transfer, since doing it via public transport was very complicated. And so we did.
At 8.45 in the morning we had to be at the meeting point, in front of the Alexander Netvsky Cathedral. The tour would take us to see the two main landmarks and then we would return to Sofia around five in the afternoon.
It was dazzling to enter the monastery, which dates back to the 10th century.
It is about one hundred and twenty kilometers south of Sofia. The Bulgarian hermit saint, Ivan Rilski, settled in the area and dedicated his life to prayer. The relics of the saint are displayed in the main church “Nativity of the Virgin” of the complex. The twenty-five-meter high Hrelyova Tower stands out in the courtyard of the monastery.
The frescoes in the church are dazzling and colorful.
Then followed the visit to the beautiful little church of Boyana, which can only be enjoyed for a strict ten minutes, as breathing and body heat degrade its moving 13th century frescoes. It is forbidden to take pictures inside the church.
It is a medieval Bulgarian Orthodox church, located on the outskirts of Sofia.
It is famous for its frescoes, made in 1259 on other older ones. They represent one of the most complete and best preserved examples of Eastern European medieval art, by an unknown author, which influenced the rest of the continent. It is not unreasonable that much of the art of the Sistine Chapel has its roots in this little gem.
The church has three parts, dating from different centuries. The first part was built between the late 10th and early 11th centuries. The second section is from the 13th century, it was erected by order of Kaloyan, Sevastocrator, and his wife Desislava. The last of the sections was built thanks to the donation of numerous inhabitants of the neighborhood and was carried out in the middle of the 19th century.
After enjoying the visits to the two most important attractions on the outskirts of Sofia, we return to the city to enjoy its multiculturalism and gastronomy.