Chekotin Monastery, Orthodox monastery near Pravets, Bulgaria.

Chekotin Monastery of St. Archangel Michael stands by the Maluk Iskar River near the village of Svode, about 15 km from Pravets. Its church, the only partly surviving medieval building, is a single-nave basilica with three conches, an apse, a narthex rebuilt in 1841 and a low arched stone entrance. A three-storey residential wing holds the chapel of St. Genadius on its second floor.

Founded at the end of the 12th century, the monastery was destroyed during the Ottoman invasions of the 14th century and rebuilt in the following one, becoming a centre for copying liturgical texts. Kardzhali raiders burned and plundered it at the end of the 17th century, and it was rebuilt between the middle and end of the 18th century. Its present form is the work of Bishop Genadius of Melnik, abbot from 1981 to 1998.

The monastery is named after the Chekotin hamlet where it stands, not a vanished village. Its wooden iconostasis, carved with stylised vine leaves and grape clusters, follows the Tryavna school; the icons were painted by Dimitar Zograf and Jovan Ikonopisets of Samokov and Hadzhi Ivancho of Gabrovo. The chapel of St Gennadius on the second floor is used for festive services.

The monastery lies on the Malak Iskar river near the village of Svode, about 15 km from Pravets. Access is by road, and the church entrance is low and arched, so watch your head. The chapel of St. Genadius is on the second floor of the three-storey residential building.

The monastery was a spiritual centre for copying liturgical literature, and it kept close ties with the Bozhenishki Urvich fortress 4 km to the west. Some of its monks took part in the revolutionary committees founded by Vasil Levski.