Peshtera Monastery

The Peshtera Monastery of Saint Nicholas of Myra (Bulgarian: Пещерски манастир „Свети Николай Мирликийски”, Peshterski manastir „Sveti Nikolay Mirlikiyski”), also known as the Mraka Monastery (Мрачки манастир, Mrachki manastir) or Oryahov Monastery (Оряховски манастир, Oryahovski manastir) is a medieval Eastern Orthodox monastery in western Bulgaria, located in the Mraka area at the village of Peshtera, near Zemen, Pernik Province. As of 2008^[update], the monastery is not operative.

The monastery was first mentioned in Tsar Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria's Oryahov Charter of 1 December 1348, which indicated that that particular tsar of the Second Bulgarian Empire had donated to the monastery. According to some researchers, the eastern part of the modern church dates to the 14th century, while others claim it belongs to the Mount Athos architectural type and is similar to Greek churches of the 16th-17th century, as well as the church of the nearby Poganovo monastery in what is today Serbia dated to 1500.

The Peshtera Monastery was abandoned during the Ottoman rule of Bulgaria. It was only renovated in 1842 by Dimitar Molerov of the Bansko artistic school, with the financial aid of the monk Simeon and his son. During the liberational Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, however, it was burned by the retreating Ottoman troops who hanged Simeon, with his son fleeing to the Rila Monastery.

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