Batkun Monastery, Orthodox monastery in Patalenitsa, Bulgaria

Batkun Monastery of Saints Peter and Paul is an active Bulgarian Orthodox monastery on the northern slopes of the Karkaria ridge, about 12 km southwest of Pazardzhik. Its church, built at the end of the 19th century, is a single-nave, single-apse building without a dome, with a bell tower attached to the west facade. A room inside is decorated with frescoes.

Founded in the 13th century, the monastery was renewed in 1692 but destroyed by Kardzhali raiders in 1774. It was restored by the late 19th century, when the present single-nave church was built. In 1867 the artist Stanislav Dospevski stayed here and painted icons and portraits, and in 1872 Vasil Levski visited.

The monastery keeps the Batkun Chronicle, a text describing forced Islamization in the Rhodope region. In 1867 the Revival painter Stanislav Dospevski stayed in a frescoed room and painted four icons and two portraits, now kept in the Plovdiv Metropolis. Vasil Levski visited in 1872.

The monastery lies about 12 km southwest of Pazardzhik, roughly 1.5 km from Patalenitsa (the former village of Batkun), on the northern slopes of the Karkaria ridge. The ruins of the ancient town of Batkunion stand nearby. It is an active monastery with monks, so visitors should dress modestly and keep quiet around the church and living quarters.

In the monastery courtyard grows the oldest vine on the Balkan Peninsula, over 500 years old and still bearing fruit. The monastery is also the source of the Batkun Chronicle, which records the forced Islamization of the Rhodope population.