Patriarchal Monastery of the Holy Trinity

Coordinates: 43°7′25.09″N 25°37′18.36″E / 43.1236361°N 25.6217667°E / 43.1236361; 25.6217667

The Patriarchal Monastery of the Holy Trinity (Bulgarian: Патриаршески манастир „Света Троица“, Patriarsheski manastir „Sveta Troitsa“) is a Bulgarian Orthodox monastery in the vicinity of Veliko Tarnovo, north central Bulgaria. Founded in the Middle Ages, it was reconstructed in 1847 and again in the mid-20th century.

Location and early history

The Patriarchal Monastery is situated on the banks of the Yantra River within its Dervent Gorge. It lies some 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) north of Veliko Tarnovo, the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire from 1185 to 1393. On the opposite bank of the river is located another medieval cloister, the Transfiguration Monastery. Next to the Patriarchal Monastery stand the cliffs of the Arbanasi mountain, part of the foothills of the central Balkan Mountains.

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 on 27 January 1070 by churchwarden Georgi Prilozhnik and his son Kalin, and its patron was already the Holy Trinity. At the time, Bulgaria was under Byzantine rule, which lasted for more than a century and a half (1018–1185). Two other theories link the monastery's establishment with the religious and cultural upsurge of the Second Bulgarian Empire in the mid-14th century, under Tsar Ivan Alexander. The first one claims the Patriarchal Monastery dates from directly after a religious council in 1350; the second one, considered more likely, ties it with future Bulgarian patriarch Evtimiy of Tarnovo. According to this version, the Patriarchal Monastery was originally a cave monastery...