Klisura Monastery "St. Petka

Overview

Klisura Monastery "St. Petka" is a functioning female Orthodox monastery located between the village of Klisura and the town of Bankya near Sofia. It is located on top of a hill at the foot of Lyulin Mountain. From the meadow in front of the monastery there is a view to Cherni Vrah. It was built in the 13th century, the center of a large laurel of hermitages and monasteries; renovated in the 18th century; in the 20th century it was resumed as a hermitage by several Russian nuns with the abbess of the shiigumeniya monastery Maria Dokhtorova and mentor of today's Metropolitan Gavriil Lovchanski, who wrote her biography), erected the monastery church "St. Petka Tarnovska ”after the collapse, renovated in 1954 and painted by a Russian monk, he also painted in the Verdikal district, but due to the burning of the archive and probably smearing of the inscription, his name is unknown. In the 21st century, an elegant and spacious church-rotunda "Introduction to the Mother of God" was built in the yard, which by 2017 is painted at a high artistic level. Much of the monastery is covered with external frescoes with many inscriptions made by contemporary original artist monk Parthenius with a team of two women working in bright artificial colors that bring a special color and therefore in recent decades have been left to fade, although attractive to mass taste. The monastery can be reached by bus №49 from Slivnitsa metro station - from the fork, from the last stop across the signs up through the pasture or left along the bike path on a detour and more sloping route. The temple holidays are on October 14 - Petko' s day and on November 21 - Introduction to the Mother of God.