The Bulgarian National Revival Church "Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary" is located in the central part of Kalofer. It is located to the right of the "Hristo Botev" Memorial Complex, at the foot of a hill on which the majestic monument rises.
This church was built in its present form in 1848 on the foundations of an older temple, the date of its construction remains unknown. Masters from Bratsigovo participated in its construction, as well as in that of another Kalofer church - "St. Athanasius the Great".
During a certain period of the existence of the "Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary" temple, one of the four monasteries of Kalofer was opened next to it - the so-called "Small Monastery". There is no information about its foundation, but it is known that it was the last one to be established.
According to local knowledge, until the 1920s, monks from the Hilendar Monastery on Mount Athos lived next to the "Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary" temple, who, like many of their brethren in the city, worked for the spiritual and educational upliftment of the awake local population.
The Hilendar (male) monastery was apparently an old low house with three rooms, located to the east of the church and behind the cemetery. After it was abandoned by the monks, it was converted into the first male (cellar) school in Kalofer. When a new school building was built (northwest of the "Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary" temple), the male school from the Hilendar monastery was moved into it.
The school building of the first male (cellar) school in Kalofer was erected in 1839, on the initiative of Vasil Aprilov and with financial assistance from Kalofer merchants in Odessa. In it, Brayko Hadzhigenov (also known as priest Brayko, Brayko Georgiev, Brayko h. Genovich, Brayko H. Georgiev and Brayko G. Popovich) introduced the mutual aid method for the first time in the city.
In one of the rooms of the first male (monastic) school on January 6, 1848, not just anyone, but the great son of Bulgaria, Hristo Botev, was born. Currently, a memorial plaque has been placed on the site, which only shows where exactly the old monastic school was located.
At that time, his father – teacher Botyo Petkov (first cousin of Brayko Hadzhigenov, with whom he did not get along well) was a teacher at the school in question. The building of this first male (monastic) school in Kalofer existed until the end of the 1950s, when unfortunately it self-destructed due to lack of maintenance.
After the Hilendar monastery was freed from the male (monastic) school, it was adapted for a female (monastic) school. The year of the latter’s opening was around 1840. It was of the type of monastic schools in the methos and its teachers were exclusively nuns. The number of female students in Kalofer at that time was growing rapidly and the release of the monastic building from the male school made things much easier for the nuns (most likely those from the neighboring Dolen methos).
And when, in 1848, the large four-class boys' school was opened - Daskal Botev School (currently the Museum of Educational Work), the boys' (cellar) school from the courtyard of the "Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary" temple was moved to the new building, and in its place came the girls' (cellar) school from the old Hilendar monastery, and it was already called the First Girls' (Class) School. The teachers in it were again only nuns. Some of the more notable teachers are the nuns Makrina, Nikofora and Euphrosyne from the Lower Monastery, nun Taisia - Old Taisia the teacher, who lived to a ripe old age (she died at the age of 101 in 1910, with only one tooth falling out and never being sick), Ekaterina Nedeva, Hristina Pecheva (niece of teacher Botyo Petkov), Maria Popovich (daughter of the great Bulgarian teacher, writer and national revivalist Rayno Popovich, who later took monastic vows with the name Eupraxia), the last four from the Upper Monastery, etc.
The thirst for education is great and among the students there are also older ones, some of them even married. The number of those wishing to gain knowledge is constantly growing and because the school turns out to be narrow and stuffy, in 1859 the Kalofer princes want the building of the Small Monastery for a school, but their wish is not fulfilled. A new building for the girls' school was built in 1871, which is again located in the courtyard of the "Holy Assumption of the Virgin" temple (southeast of it). It was also built with donations from Kalofer merchants (about 70,000 groschen). Classes in it began in the period 1871 - 1872. Nuns again teach in this school, but there are now also secular teachers, including a Czech woman.
The school buildings around the Church of the Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary were seriously damaged, and some burned down completely during the Great Fire.
After the Liberation (1878), the school at the Church of the Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary no longer existed. It was moved to the cells at the Church of St. Athanasius the Great.
The small (maiden) monastery was an ordinary low house next to the church of the Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary, of which no trace remains after the Liberation (1878). Today, not even its location can be specified. According to the memories of contemporaries of that era, the monastery was located southwest of the church and in its courtyard.
According to the Kalofer historian academic Nikola Nachov, there were once seven nuns in the Small Convent, which is the largest number noted in the sources. By 1877, there were only three or four.
Some light on the history of the convent around 1860 is shed by three letters from the archives of Dr. Chomakov and Naiden Gerov. From them we learn that the Kalofer nobles asked the nuns to cede the house to the convent for the needs of the girls' school, and that they should go to the nuns in the "Holy Trinity" convent.
The negotiations continued for almost a year, but in any case, they were not crowned with success.
Naiden Gerov relied on his family relationship with the abbess of the convent - Paraskeva, who was his cousin, but this did not help either. It should be noted that the abbess in question, Paraskeva Shushulova, originally from Koprivshtitsa, was highly educated for her time. The teacher Parashkeva Ivanova Shushulova, whose abbess was an aunt on her father's side, lived with her in the convent. At that time, she was the most educated teacher in Kalofer. In 1866, she graduated from the Kiev Fundukleeva Gymnasium and at the beginning of the 1867/68 school year, with the assistance of Naiden Gerov, she was appointed as a teacher in Kalofer. She taught for four years, living in the convent under the supervision and care of the abbess Paraskeva. She enjoyed great authority among students and teachers, and a song was even sung about her, the chorus of which had the words:
As a teacher, Parashkeva had two old nuns as assistants. Along with this most educated girl in Kalofer, the nuns in the Small Convent had the opportunity to experience the influence of the most notable personalities who lived and visited the town, including Botev and probably Levski.
The small convent most likely existed, in parallel with the other convents, until the tragic year of 1877, when all four convents were burned to the ground along with the entire settlement.
There is no information about the fate of its nuns after the Liberation. Only one novice is remembered – Mariyka, whose father's house was next to the convent (on the site of the "Hristo Botev" National Community Center – 1869), so as a child she often visited the nuns, and when she grew up she became a novice with them.
But just when she was supposed to enter monastic tonsure, the unfortunate events of 1877 occurred for Kalofer and the entire Strem Valley, during which the convent was destroyed. After that, she did not enter the restored Kalofer nunnery, but undertook the spiritual feat of monasticism alone. Her activity was connected with the restoration of the monastery "Pokrov Bogorodichen" near Kalofer, also known as the "Little Monastery" (east of the Kalofer male monastery). For some time it was even called "Mary's Monastery".
So, from the above it should be understood that the church "Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary", with its adjacent methos (the Hilendar and the Small), without underestimating the role of the other methos, turned out to be the main center and the heart of the spiritual and educational life in Kalofer during the Revival. Unfortunately, fate has not preserved to our days any material memory of these first educational centers around the church, for which today a single memorial plaque testifies.
"Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary" is the only church in Kalofer that has functioned almost continuously since its construction until today. Currently, this church is the only functioning church in the sub-Balkan town.
The Holy Dormition of the Virgin Church (the artistic decoration) has been declared an immovable cultural property (cultural monument) with the category of national importance - artistic value.
The Church of the Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary is a single-apse, three-nave pseudo-basilica with an open narthex (narthex) from the west and a bell tower above its southern part.
The building has an entrance from the west and south, with a portico above the latter. The central nave is separated from the side nave by colonnades. Its massive construction is made of stone blocks, bonded with mortar. The roof is gabled, covered with tiles.
The icons in the iconostasis of the temple are the work of masters from the Debar Art School - the brothers Hristo and Kuzman Makrievi and Nestor Trayanov, all representatives of the great Bulgarian family of Frčchkovtsi from the village of Galichnik in the Mijas region (today in the Republic of North Macedonia).
The fresco decoration inside the church is late. It was made in the mid-20th century by the Kalofer artist Kiril Kanchev.
North of the church there is a holy water spring, over which a vaulted building with columns is built. West of it is a memorial plaque marking the site of the old boys' and later girls' school.
Source of information: https://svetimesta.com/
How to get to the town of Kalofer?
Kalofer is a town in Karlovo Municipality, Plovdiv District.
It is located in South Central Bulgaria near the Sub-Balkan Road*.
*The Republican Road I-6, also known as the Sub-Balkan Road, is a first-class road of the Republican Road Network of Bulgaria with a west-east direction, passing through the territory of nine districts: Kyustendil, Pernik, Sofia Region, Sofia, Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Sliven, Yambol and Burgas.
Its total length is 508.5 km, making it the longest republican road in Bulgaria.
Kalofer is located at the foot of the southern slopes of the Stara Planina Mountain.
Kalofer is located:
156 kilometers (about 2 hours and 16 minutes by car) from the capital
66 kilometers (about 1 hour by car) from the city of Plovdiv
330 kilometers (about 4 hours and 17 minutes by car) from the city of Varna
230 kilometers (about 2 hours and 30 minutes by car) from the city of Burgas
17 kilometers (about 17 minutes by car) from the city of Karlovo
How do you get to the monument of the Renaissance temple "Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary"?
The Bulgarian National Revival Church "Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary" is located in the city center.
What to visit in Kalofer?
Entering the city, you should not miss visiting the monument of Kalifer Voivode, the founder of Kalofer.
Nearby is the starting point for the "White River" eco-trail.
The Bulgarian National Revival Church "Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary" is located to the right of the "Hristo Botev" Memorial Complex, at the foot of a hill on which the majestic monument rises. Take the stairs to the monument and enjoy the exceptional panorama opening from the place.
Located on the left bank of the Tundzha River, on the spacious and sunny central city square, at the base of the Hristo Botev Memorial Complex and next to the "200 Rifles" composition, rises the graceful white stature of the Daskal Botev School, today transformed into the Museum of Educational Work in Kalofer.
Opposite the museum is the Kalofer Lace Creative Center, which I advise you to check out.
Let your sunny walk in this unique Bulgarian city take you to the Hristo Botev National Museum.
The Church of St. Athanasius the Great is located near the center of Kalofer. It is the only church in Kalofer, located on the right bank (south) of the Tundzha River.
And finally, my dear friends,
you shouldn't miss checking out
the special photo album with moments –
discovered, experienced, filmed and shared with you!
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