Kremikovtsi Monastery, Medieval Orthodox monastery in Kremikovtsi, Bulgaria

Kremikovtsi Monastery of Saint George stands on the southern slopes of the Balkan Mountains at Gradishteto, 4 km north of the Kremikovtsi quarter. Its old church is a single-nave building of rough tan, brown and grey stone with a narthex and a rounded apse under a conical roof of reddish-brown tiles; a stone cross tops the pitched roof. A larger plastered church with a dark dome stands behind.

The monastery was founded during the Second Bulgarian Empire in the 14th century, then destroyed in 1398 and rebuilt by nobleman Radivoy in 1493. This reconstruction allowed it to develop into a center of artistic activity.

The old church's frescoes were painted in several campaigns. The 1493 layer in the narthex shows the founder Radivoy and his family presenting a model of the church to Metropolitan Kalevit and Saint George; art historians attribute it to a workshop of the Kastoria school. Later frescoes of the 17th century include Archangel Michael, Saints Constantine and Helena, and the warrior saints Procopius, Theodore Stratelates and Theodore Tiron.

The monastery sits on a hill in the Gradishteto area, 4 km north of the Kremikovtsi quarter of Sofia, on the southern slopes of the Balkan Mountains, where traces of a fortress are still visible. The old church has no dome, so look for the small stone building with a tiled apse beside the larger plastered church. The site is reached by road from Sofia; the courtyard and churches can be visited on foot.

The Kremikovtsi Gospel, created at the monastery in 1497, demonstrates the high quality of the Sofia School of Literature and calligraphy. The manuscript exemplifies the craftsmanship that monks developed at this site during that period.