Elenska Basilica in winter
Updated: Jun 10
My dear friends, I invite you on a journey to the Elenska Basilica in winter!
The history of the basilica is extremely interesting and the winter walk makes the trip fabulous!
The Elenski Monastery "St. Elijah" is the ruins of a fortified monastery complex destroyed by the Turks with an impressive early Christian basilica and fortress.
It consists of the temple itself, monastery buildings and their surrounding fortress walls, flanked by four-walled towers at the corners.
The monastery was an active and very important center of literature during the Second Bulgarian State and operated until the end of the 17th century, when it was unfortunately destroyed by the Turkish enslavers.
Then Yahia Pasha ordered the army to demolish with cannons, burn and destroy the thirteen hundred year old monastery.
How do you get to Elenska Basilica?
The monastery and the basilica are located very close to the town of Pirdop and the Sub-Balkan road. If you are traveling in the direction of Sofia - Burgas, watch for a turnoff on the left. There is also a huge signpost to follow.
After the turnoff, you will continue along a good paved road for about a kilometer and a half, and suddenly you will find yourself in a fabulous grove of beautiful young birches.
You are now at the foot of the southern slopes of the Zlatishko-Tetevensky division of the Stara Planina, in the area of Elensko, on the border of the Pirdop and Anton municipalities, where the field ends and the Stara Planina begins.
Directly next to it flows the small, but full-flowing, mountain Elenska river with the Elenska falls and the Elenska grove, which gave the name of the basilica.
The remains of the majestic ruins are located on the right bank of the river.
During the Second Bulgarian State, the Bulgarian monastery "St. Elijah", which is a significant literary center. The basilica itself was used as a monastery temple.
My dear friends, you can learn the full, detailed and detailed history of Elenska Basilica by following this link.
Today, the Elenska Basilica is a cultural monument of European importance and is on the UNESCO list of protected cultural sites.
Near the ruins, as a memory of the destroyed Bulgarian monastery, in 2010 the chapel "St. Ilia" was erected and consecrated.