The Bachkovo Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos, archaically the Petritsoni Monastery or Monastery of the Mother of God Petritzonitissa is a major Eastern Orthodox monastery in Southern Bulgaria. It is located on the right bank of the Chepelare River, 189 km from Sofia and 10 km south of Asenovgrad, and is directly subordinate to the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The monastery is known and appreciated for the unique combination of Byzantine, Georgian and Bulgarian culture, united by the common faith.
Courtyard of Bachkovo Monastery
The medieval ossuary
A 14th-century donor portrait in fresco of Bulgarian tsar Ivan Alexander in the ossuary
The Cathedral Church of the Virgin Mary
The Chepelare river or Chepelarska reka is an 86 km-long river in the Rhodope Mountains of southern Bulgaria, a right tributary of the river Maritsa.
The river in Asenovgrad
Asen's Fortress raising over the Chepelarska reka valley
Chepelarska reka at Bachkovo