Seslav Monastery "St. Nicholas"

Overview

The Seslav Monastery "St. Nicholas" is a non-functioning Bulgarian Orthodox monastery located in the Sofia Mountains, above the Seslavtsi district of Sofia. Of the monastery, only the church and the foundations of the former residential buildings are currently preserved. It is possible that the monastery was founded during the second Bulgarian kingdom. At the beginning of the 19th century it was destroyed by the Kurds and rebuilt in 1832. After September 9, 1944, the monastery fell on the territory of a state mine for uranium mining (exported to the USSR) and due to limited access to outsiders quickly declined. After the democratic changes, despite the stated intentions of various institutions and organizations, the monastery has not been restored or inhabited, but continues to fall into disrepair. It is currently managed by the mayor's office of the village of Seslavtsi and is closed to visitors due to the risk of vandalism. The church, whose construction dates back to the XV - XVI century, is one-nave and one-apse with a semi-cylindrical vault and narthex . 3 picturesque layers have been discovered, the best preserved being the fresco from 1616, from the time of the abbot hieromonk Daniel. It is possible that the author of this layer of the frescoes is the pre-Renaissance writer and painter hieromonk Pimen Zografski. The frescoes are characterized by scenes from the life and miracles of Christ, as well as from the life of the Holy Mother of God, featuring hermit saints Ivan Rilski and Joachim of Sarandapor and Old Testament prophets. Under the residential building there is a two-part hiding place, which is supposed to have been connected with the neighboring fortress Kaleto.