Patriarchal Monastery of the Holy Trinity

The Patriarchal Monastery of the Holy Trinity is a Bulgarian Orthodox monastery in the vicinity of Veliko Tarnovo. Founded in the Middle Ages, it was reconstructed in 1847 and again in the mid-20th century. The Patriarchal Monastery is situated on the banks of the Yantra River within its Dervent Gorge. On the opposite bank of the river is located another medieval cloister, the Transfiguration Monastery.

There are at least a few theories with regard to the monastery's exact foundation, all pointing to the Middle Ages. According to an inscription discovered during the construction of the present monastery church, it was founded in 1070. Two other theories link the monastery's establishment with the religious and cultural upsurge of the Second Bulgarian Empire in the mid-14th century.

The Fall of Tarnovo to the Ottomans in 1393 meant an end to the monastery's heyday, and by 1416 the Bulgarian Patriarchate had been subordinated to the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Despite being arsoned, it nevertheless continued to exist, and in the 18th and early 19th century it was regularly the subject of donations by the rulers of Wallachia and Moldavia, the Romanian principalities across the Danube. 

In the early 19th century, the Patriarchal Monastery suffered two disasters. In 1803, a brigand raid plundered its buildings, and in 1812 an outbreak of plague caused the abandonment of the already hardly active cloister. The monastery was, however, reestablished in the 1840s. The monastery church was built in 1846–1867 The monastery church follows a cross-in-square plan with three domes, which were added later. Blind arches with red brickwork inside decorate the exterior, and a four-columned exonarthex marks the west entrance.

The altar of the current church was brought from the Ancient Roman ruins of Nicopolis ad Istrum. In antiquity, it was used as a pagan sacrificial altar. The interior decoration and the iconostasis of the church were the work of Samokov painter Zahari Zograf.

The church, along with the entire monastery, suffered extensive damage during an earthquake in 1913. The church was reconstructed in 1927, while the adjacent buildings were rebuilt after World War II, in 1946–1948, when the monastery was converted to a nunnery. However, Zahari Zograf's frescoes have not been restored, and the interior of the monastery church remains for the most part unpainted. At present, the monastery complex includes the main church, residential buildings, chapels dedicated to Jesus Christ and Evtimiy of Tarnovo and a well, as well as the grave of Metropolitan Joseph of Veliko Tarnovo (1870–1918).

References:

• Wikipedia

Address

Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria

Details

Founded: 1846
Category: Religious sites in Bulgaria