Bulgaria

Bulgaria's largest Eastern Orthodox monastery, set deep in the Rila Mountains and founded in the 10th century by the hermit Saint John of Rila (Ivan Rilski). From the 11th to the 14th centuries it served as a center of spiritual and artistic influence across the Eastern Orthodox world. Hrelyo's Tower of 1334 to 1335 still stands intact, while the residential wings and five-domed main church rebuilt from 1834 onward exemplify the Bulgarian National Revival, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.

UNESCO World Heritage Site (1983)Rilski manastir, xã Rila, tỉnh Kyustendil (thung lũng sông Rilska, núi Rila, cách Sofia khoảng 111 km)

Photo: Pudelek (Marcin Szala), CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

The monumental Neo-Byzantine patriarchal cathedral of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in central Sofia and one of the largest Eastern Orthodox cathedrals in the Balkans, designed by Russian architect Alexander Pomerantsev and constructed between 1882 and 1912 in memory of the 200,000 Russian, Bulgarian, Romanian, and Finnish soldiers who fell during the Russo-Turkish War of Liberation of 1877 to 1878, renowned for its 45-meter gold-plated central dome, 53-meter belfry housing twelve Moscow-cast bells, and subterranean Museum of Christian Art.

Patriarchal Cathedral of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (elevated in 1953) and Cultural Monument of National Significance of the Republic of Bulgaria (proclaimed on September 12, 1924 and reaffirmed in 1955)Ploshtad Sveti Aleksandar Nevski, Oborishte District, 1000 Sofia, Republic of Bulgaria

Photo: Plamen Agov ( user:MrPanyGoff ), CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

The sole functioning historic mosque in Sofia and a sixteenth-century Ottoman architectural landmark completed in 1566 to 1567 CE (974 AH) by the imperial chief architect Mimar Sinan through the endowment of Qadi Seyfullah Efendi (Mullah Efendi Kadri) directly beside the ancient thermal mineral springs of Serdika, distinguished by its alternating stone-and-brick masonry, 15-meter lead-sheathed dome, and slender minaret anchoring Sofia's Square of Religious Tolerance.

Sole Active Historic Mosque in the Capital of Bulgaria and Architectural Cultural Monument of National Importance of the Republic of Bulgaria (anchoring the Square of Religious Tolerance in ancient Serdika)Bulevard Knyaginya Maria Luiza 18, Vazrazhdane District, 1000 Sofia, Republic of Bulgaria

Photo: Pudelek (Marcin Szala), CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

A jewel of medieval Eastern Orthodox art nestled in the pine forests at the foot of Mount Vitosha on the outskirts of Sofia and inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979 (Ref. 42), comprising three contiguous church sections from the tenth, thirteenth, and nineteenth centuries and celebrated worldwide for its cycle of 89 fresco scenes with 240 figures painted in 1259 under the patronage of Sebastokrator Kaloyan and his wife Desislava.

UNESCO World Heritage Site (inscribed in 1979, Ref. 42) and Cultural Monument of National Importance administered by the National Museum of History of BulgariaUlitsa Boyansko Ezero 1-3, Boyana Quarter at the foot of Mount Vitosha, Vitosha District, 1616 Sofia, Republic of Bulgaria

Photo: Aleksander Dragnes, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

A monastic network of rock-cut churches, chapels, and some 300 ascetic cells carved high into the vertical limestone cliffs of the Rusenski Lom river canyon in northern Bulgaria beginning in the 1220s under Saint Joachim I and the Tsars of the Second Bulgarian Empire, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979 (Ref. 45) for its fourteenth-century Tarnovo School frescoes in the Church of the Holy Virgin demonstrating the artistic peak of the Palaeologan Renaissance.

UNESCO World Heritage Site (inscribed in 1979, Ref. 45) and National Archaeological and Architectural Reserve of the Republic of BulgariaRusenski Lom River Canyon, Village of Ivanovo (20 km south of Ruse), Ivanovo Municipality, Ruse Province, Republic of Bulgaria

Photo: Alexander.D.Hristov, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons