Sts. Joachim and Anne Monastery in Bistritsa

Overview

Sts. Joachim and Anne Monastery is located in the area of ​​Mali Dol in Vitosha Mountain, about 2 km southeast of the village of Bistritsa. You can get to the monastery by car on an asphalt road, which deviates to the left from the road Bistritsa - Zheleznitsa 2 km from Bistritsa or walk on a dirt road and a direct path that starts from the village cemetery in a southeasterly direction.

The monastery was built on the place of the St. Peter Monastery that existed there during the 9th -10th century but was destroyed by Ottoman invaders. Its foundations were discovered in 1925.

The new church of the monastery was built in 1947. During the construction work, a stone tomb dating to the IV-V century was discovered. It contained a small clay lamp, swords, copper coins, as well as male and female skeletons. Bricks, tiles, traces of construction were found in the vicinity of the monastery, which suggests that the old church and the tomb were originally part of a settlement that existed in the early Middle Ages.

Not far from the monastery there is a spring. Here on Christian holidays, after services in the monastery, pilgrims come to drink water. They believe that this water cures eye diseases.