


Many monasteries and churches were built during the time of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom in Veliko Turnovo and the region, and they became the centre of an intense spiritual and cultural life. It was because of them that we protected and kept our language, religion, culture and traditions during the difficult days throughout history. It was in their libraries that all the volumes of the old Bulgarian books were kept and re-written. They are the real witnesses and guardians of the history.
An inscription on the eastern facade, above the apse of the Kapinovo Monastery's cathedral church reads thus: "And first was there raised in the year 1272 a temple named the Holy Trinity, renovated in 1835." This text clearly and definitely states that until 1835, on the site of the present-day cathedral church, there stood an older temple dated, according to an inscription non-existing today, to 1272 when Tsar Constantine Assen-Tikh (1257-1277) ruled.
This monastery lies 6 km to the north of Veliko Turnovo. According to certain data the Monastery of the Holy Trinity was founded in 1070 by Georgi, a churchwarden and his son, Kalin, but it is thought more probable that it was built by Patriarch Euthymius with the help of Tsar Ivan Shishman, hence its name of Patriarchal.
Convent of The Dormition of The Virgin
The Arbanassi Convent of the Dormition of the Virgin is situated in the north-western part of the village. It was also probably first built in the Middle Ages because of its proximity to an old fort and a Roman road.
Preobrazhenski Monastery is the biggest of the monasteries around Veliko Turnovo and the fourth largest in the country. It lies at a distance of 7 km from Veliko Turnovo in the wooded gorge of Derventa, below the caves in the cliffs which surround the Belyakovo Plateau.
The emergence of the Kilifarevo Monastery is closely connected with the name of Theodossius of Turnovo, an acknowledged Bulgarian Hesychast and man of letters. He settled in these parts towards 1348, a few years after the death of the famous Hesychast Gregory Sinait, whose monastery in Southern Strandzha he had inhabited before.
The Arbanassi Monastery of St. Nicholas
The Monastery of St. Nicolas lies in a small dale at the south-western end of Arbanassi. It is thought to have been founded by the family of the Assens. The monastery keeps one of the very few preserved Royal appartments in Bulgaria with original belongings of the Royal family.
Contact phones: 062/25670; 0887/546331
The Kapinovo Monastery
Kilifarevo Monastery
Monastery of St. Nicolas
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Convent of The Dormition of The Virgin



