The Seven Altars officially the Monastery of the Most Holy Mother of God is a Bulgarian Orthodox

Bulgarian Orthodox Church

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church - Bulgarian Patriarchate is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church with some 6.5 million members in the Republic of Bulgaria and between 1.5 and 2.0 million members in a number of European countries, the Americas and Australia...

 monastery of the Eparchy of Sofia

Sofia

Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...

, situated in the western Balkan Mountains

Balkan Mountains

The Balkan mountain range is a mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. The Balkan range runs 560 km from the Vrashka Chuka Peak on the border between Bulgaria and eastern Serbia eastward through central Bulgaria to Cape Emine on the Black Sea...

, on the border between Sofia Province

Sofia Province

Sofia Province is a province of Bulgaria. The province does not include Sofia in its territories, but Sofia however remains its administrative center...

 and Vratsa Province

Vratsa Province

Vratsa Province , former name Vratsa okrug) is a Bulgarian province located in the northwestern part of the country, between Danube river in the north and Stara Planina mountain in the south. It is named after its main town - Vratsa...

. It is located in the valley of the Gabrovnitsa River, on the way from Eliseyna

Eliseyna

Eliseina is a village in the Vratsa Province, northwestern Bulgaria. it has 419 inhabitants. The village is situated on the northern slopes of Stara Planina in a region rich in copper, lead and zinc deposits. There is a small copper smelter near the village....

 through the Iskar

Iskar

The Iskar is, with a length of 368 km, the longest river that runs solely in Bulgaria, and a tributary of the Danube.The Iskar is formed by three rivers, the Cherni Iskar, Beli Iskar and Levi Iskar , with the source being accepted to be the Prav Iskar, a tributary of the Cherni Iskar...

 Gorge to the village of Osenovlag, Sofia Province, at the foot of Izdremets Peak (1492 m). It is one of the 100 Tourist Sites of Bulgaria

100 Tourist Sites of Bulgaria

"100 Tourist Sites of Bulgaria" is a Bulgarian national movement established in 1966 to promote tourism among Bulgaria's most significant cultural, historic, and natural landmarks....

.

History

A legend says that the short-lived Bulgarian tsar Peter Delyan

Peter Delyan

Peter Delyan was the leader of the local Bulgarian uprising against the Byzantine rule, started in the Theme of Bulgaria during summer of 1040. He was proclaimed Tsar of Bulgaria, as Samuel`s grandson in Belgrade...

 (Peter II) died in the monastery, which was a temporary capital of Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

. According to the same legend, the brother of the Bulgarian monarch became the first abbot of the holy cloister.

The monastery is more popular with its unofficial name "The Seven Altars" because of its unique church. The legend says that seven boyar

Boyar

A boyar, or bolyar , was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rus'ian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes , from the 10th century through the 17th century....

s established seven villages in the close proximity of the monastery — Osenovlag, Ogoya, Ogradishte, Bukovets, Leskovdol, Zhelen and Lakatnik

Lakatnik

Lakatnik is a small village located in Svoge municipality, near the Lakatnik rocks. The village has a small train station on the train line Sofia - Mezdra....

. There are seven chapels (altars) in the church and experts claim that there is no other Bulgarian church of this kind. There is evidence that the monastery existed in the 16th century.

On the north side of the monastery there are ruins of a fortress, which local people call the "Latin Stronghold". Parts of its stone wall can be seen from the steep pathway starting from the monastery. The monastery's gate was taken from these remains.

Another legend says that during the Ottoman Age the monastery was demolished and set on fire. Valchan gathered the voivodes. They decided to build the monastery. The voivodes were seven: Valchan Voyvoda, Father Martin, Spiros Dimitar, Malenko the Serb

Serbs

The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...

, Emin Bey

Bey

Bey is a title for chieftain, traditionally applied to the leaders of small tribal groups. Accoding to some sources, the word "Bey" is of Turkish language In historical accounts, many Turkish, other Turkic and Persian leaders are titled Bey, Beg, Bek, Bay, Baig or Beigh. They are all the same word...

, Ali Bey and Petar. The church was built with seven altars in their honour. Valchan's idea was actually to hide the entrance to the fortress. Down in its vault a Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 treasure was hidden.

St Sophronius of Vratsa

Sophronius of Vratsa

Saint Sophronius of Vratsa , born Stoyko Vladislavov , was a Bulgarian cleric and one of the leading figures of the early Bulgarian National Revival....

, bishop of the Eparchy of Vratsa

Vratsa

Vratsa is a city in northwestern Bulgaria, at the foothills of the Balkan Mountains. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Vratsa Province. As of February 2011, the town has a population of 60,482 inhabitants....

, lived and officiated in the monastery, which was part of his diocese at the time.

Geography

The monastery is situated only 86 km away from Sofia

Sofia

Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...

, which makes it a popular weekend destination. It offers sleeping accommodation and a large dining-room for gatherings.

The Seven Altars Monastery can be reached by car from Eliseyna in the Iskar Gorge. Eliseyna is 42 km away from Sofia, on the Sofia ring-road through Novi Iskar

Novi Iskar

Novi Iskar is a town in western Bulgaria, located in Sofia City Province and the Capital Municipality. It is often regarded as a suburb of Sofia and lies in the northern part of the Sofia Valley, with the Iskar Gorge beginning just north of the town.Novi Iskar was formed through the merging of...

, and 46 km from Mezdra

Mezdra

Mezdra is a town in northwestern Bulgaria, part of Vratsa Province. It is located on the left bank of the Iskar River just north of its gorge through the Balkan Mountains....

. Only passenger trains stop at this station. The distance to the monastery is about 10–12 km. There is a bus to the monastery that waits for the train every evening. The road to the Seven Altars runs through the middle of Eliseyna, across the railway.

The road to the monastery quite narrow, but asphalt-paved. The grave of the famous Bulgarian children's writer Zmey Goryanin (1905–1958)—author of 50 books and brochures—is in the yard, behind the church. There are sequoias planted in the monastery yard, the roots of which have started cracking the walls.