Praveshki Monastery "St. Theodore Tyrone"

Overview

The Praveshki Monastery is located in the Etropole part of the Stara Planina Mountain, about 2-3 km from the town of Pravets. The monastery is 10 km from the town of Etropole, 12 km from Botevgrad and 62 km east of Sofia.

The monastery "St. Theodore Tyrone" is the only Bulgarian monastery with this name. Theodore Tyrone was a young soldier in the Roman army and the locals honor the saint as the guardian of their city. According to some, there was a Thracian sanctuary at this place, and the monastery was established in the time of Assen and Peter. The first specific information about the Praveshki Monastery is about a janissary attack in 1636 and about the devastation of the monastery by the Kirdzhalis a century later. In 1866 the monastery was restored with donations from wealthy citizens of the area. The kitchen store, which is today the home of the father who serves in the monastery, dates back to that time.

In the period from the Liberation to the Second World War, the Praveshki Monastery was a convent for women, and after the war it was run by a father, who later dropped his robe and in the 1960s retrained as a tractor driver. In 2006 and 2007 the monastery has been overhauled and the frescoes in the church have been restored.

The residential building in the Praveshki Monastery was built in 1970 and contains seven rooms in a completely different architectural style. The greatest treasure in the monastery are the relics of the patron saint. Theodore Tyrone, which were donated to the holy monastery in 2008 by the Bishop of Ruse.

The only inhabitant of the Praveshki Monastery is Father John, who has been managing the monastery for about 10 years. A nice eco-trail starts from the monastery yard, which connects the holy monastery with the nearby town of Pravets.

The Praveshki Monastery offers accommodation in several rooms for a maximum of 15 people. There is also a gazebo in the garden next to the guest house, where you can have a barbecue and gather company. There are also hotels and restaurants in the nearby town of Pravets.