Bachkovo Monastery - the place to God

Bachkovo Monastery 'Assumption of Holy Virgin' is the second largest and most visited monastery in Bulgaria, located in the Rhodope Mountains near Plovdiv in Bulgaria. it was established in 1083. Bachkovo Manastery is one of the oldest monasteries in Europe, which carried out the interaction of three cultures - Byzantine, Old Georgian and Bulgarian. The unique architectural and artistic monuments preserved in it are valuable for the entire Orthodox culture.A special center of the monastery's spiritual life is the worship and veneration of the Bachkovo miraculous icon of the Most Holy Mother of God. The icon has been on the territory of the monastery most likely since the time of its foundation and has always remained the center of attention of monks, believers and visitors. The flow of pilgrims who come to receive the blessing of the miraculous image, share their pain and pray for its protection does not stop. The very location of the holy icon is by the will of the depicted Mother of God and is related to its hiding and finding. Namely, during the difficult initial years of the Turkish domination, the icon was hidden in the area of Kluviata, where it was found again at the beginning of the 17th century, and brought to the monastery. To the monks' amazement, she disappeared and was again found in the same place on the mountain and returned. This was repeated twice, until one of the brothers in the monastery received in his dream the order of the Holy Mother of God to exhibit her image in the cathedral church of the monastery, to the right of the central door, in a separate iconostasis, with three steps in front of it, in order to welcome everyone in need and to always be in the temple.

There is also a legend that the Miraculous Icon is a copy of the legendary icon of St. Theodore, painted by St. Luke and flew alone from Georgia to the monastery.