Kalugerovo Monastery, Orthodox monastery in Lesichovo, Pazardzhik Province, Bulgaria.
Kalugerovo Monastery is an Orthodox monastery complex in Lesichovo, Pazardzhik Province, situated at the foot of Zmeyovets hill near the Trakiya motorway. The site contains several religious buildings arranged within a natural setting, featuring traditional Bulgarian ecclesiastical architecture.
Traces of Roman habitation survive here as a marble sarcophagus and coins. Some accounts place a monastery on the site during the Crusades; it was destroyed by the Turks in 1419 and later restored. It is first documented in a manuscript note of 1693 on a menaion, and in the 17th and 18th centuries it was a centre of literary activity. Vasil Levski hid here, and in February 1876 Georgi Benkovski held a meeting at the monastery before the April Uprising, during which it was burned; it was rebuilt in 1906–1908.
The monastery is dedicated to Saint Nicholas, and its church feast is celebrated on 6 December. It is an active monastery with a single monk. In the 17th and 18th centuries it was a centre of literary activity, and a manuscript note from 1693 on a menaion is its first mention.
The monastery is accessible via the Trakiya motorway, which connects Sofia and Plovdiv, with convenient entry points from both directions. Visitors should prepare for variable weather conditions, as the hillside location is exposed to the elements throughout the year.
A marble slab from the reign of Roman emperor Julian (361–363) is kept at the monastery, along with several 19th- and early 20th-century marble plaques inscribed in Bulgarian. Roman coins and a marble sarcophagus were also found on the site.
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