Rila Monastery Nature Park Management Plan - part - usaid

February 2004
remodeled as spare living quarters. With a floor plan is almost a perfect
square (7.25 by 8.25 m), the tower is 23 m in height. The outer walls are
1.8 m thick, built of cut and river stone masonry with plaster. The interior
space is divided into five storeys, with a chapel, the Transfiguration of
Christ, topping the enlarged fifth storey. Inside the chapel one can see
surviving fragments of the original 14 th century frescoes of enormous
artistic and historical value. A belfry was added to the tower’s western
facade in 1843-44, its ground floor occupied by the Monastery store.
3. Auxiliary building located outside the main Monastery
compound:
These are a number of separate, independent buildings comprising the Monastery
household, whose historical value is mostly determined by their age. Among those
are the monastery laundry room, the servants’ quarters and the monastery school, the
firewood and coal storage rooms, the Abbot’s quarters, the powder house, the wine
cellar, etc. All of these buildings date from the early 19 th century and some retain
their original function to the present, while others have been converted to other
purposes. Their physical structure and appearance are more or less unchanged; at the
same time, there are records of other contemporary buildings and facilities that have
either been destroyed or changed beyond recognition.
4. The Monastery cemetery is located due south of the Monastery
compound. At its eastern edge, immediately by the right bank of the Rilska River, is
the Presentation of the Virgin Church, built and decorated in the 1790s.
5. The Boucher Grave is located to the southwest of the Monastery
compound. It is the final resting place of a British journalist, James Boucher (1850-
1920), actively involved with the Bulgarian national liberation cause, who himself
willed to be buried at this spot;
The Tomb of St. John of Rila Complex
The place where, as legend has it, the remains of the hermit St. John of Rila are
entombed, is located about 3 kilometres northeast of the Monastery, in a small niche
in the Rupite rock face. The nearby 15 th -century Dormition of St. John Church,
renovated in 1746 and with an extension by Master-Builder Alexy Rilets dating from
1820, is painted inside with frescoes depicting traditional gospel scenes and episodes
from the life of the saint. In the immediate vicinity of the church, partly hidden in a
rock crevasse a little ways to the southwest is a hermit’s den. The terrace in front of it
fits into the concave rock face and is only open towards the southeast, supported
underneath by stone masonry and a terraced slope.
St. John’s Tomb is a 20 minutes’ walk along the marked trail from Kirilova Polyana
locality. It is accessible direct from the Monastery via another marked trail; the
distance is ca. 1:30 hrs. The tomb site is property of the Holy Monastery of Rila.
Rila monastery Nature Park
ManaegmentPlan - Draft
2004 - 2013
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