{{Short description|Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria}}
{{Infobox monastery | name = Etropole Monastery of the Holy Trinity | image = Etropole-Monastery panorama.jpg | alt = | caption = Overview of the Etropole Monastery with the main church and the living quarters | full = | other_names = Varovitets | order = Bulgarian Orthodox | denomination = Bulgarian Orthodox Church | established = 12th or 13th century | disestablished = | reestablished = | mother = | dedication = Holy Trinity | dedicated date = | consecrated date = | celebration = Pentecost | archdiocese = | diocese = | churches = 1 main church, 2 chapels | founder = | abbot = | prior = | dean = | provost = | director = | people = Vasil Levski | location = Near Etropole, Sofia Province, Bulgaria | map_type = Bulgaria | coordinates = {{coord|42|49|25.6|N|24|2|13.9|E|type:landmark_region:BG|display=inline,title}} | public_access = }}
right|thumb|Side view of the main church of the Etropole Monastery right|thumb|View of the residential quarters from the outside
The '''Etropole Monastery of the Holy Trinity''' ({{langx|bg|Етрополски манастир „Света Троица”}}, ''Etropolski manastir „Sveta Troitsa”''), also known as '''Varovitets''' (Варовитец), is a Bulgarian Orthodox monastery near the town of Etropole in west-central Bulgaria. The monastery was founded in the 12th or 13th century, its heyday being from the 16th to the 18th century when, thanks to its prolific scriptoria, it was the dominant literary centre of Ottoman-ruled northern Bulgaria. In its present form, the monastery includes a large mid-19th-century church and two chapels.
==History== The Etropole Monastery is located {{convert|5|km|mi|abbr=off}} from the eponymous town, which lies to the north-east of the Bulgarian capital Sofia.<ref name="kay">{{cite book|last=Kay|first=Annie|title=Bulgaria: The Bradt Travel Guide|year=2008|publisher=Bradt Travel Guides|isbn=9781841621555|page=149}}</ref> The closest inhabited place is the village of Ribaritsa, which is {{convert|4|km|mi|abbr=off}} west of the monastery.<ref name="bousfield">{{cite book|last1=Bousfield|first1=Jonathan|last2=Richardson|first2=Dan|title=Rough guide to Bulgaria|edition=4th|year=2002|publisher=Rough Guides|isbn=9781858288826|pages=214–215}}</ref> The monastery lies among maple woodlands at the foot of the Balkan Mountains.<ref name="dimitrov">{{cite news|url=http://paper.standartnews.com/bg/article.php?article=380406 |title=Тайните на Етрополския манастир |trans-title=The secrets of the Etropole Monastery |last=Димитров |first=Божидар |authorlink=Bozhidar Dimitrov |date=2011-09-02 |work=Стандарт |publisher=Стандарт нюз АД |language=Bulgarian |accessdate=22 March 2012 |archivedate=5 March 2016 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305022928/http://paper.standartnews.com/bg/article.php?article=380406 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="standart2005">{{cite news|url=http://paper.standartnews.com/bg/article.php?article=36121 |title=Манастирът "Св. Троица" е книжовен център през XVI в. |trans-title=The Holy Trinity Monastery was a literary centre in the 16th century |date=2005-02-27 |work=Стандарт |publisher=Стандарт нюз АД |language=Bulgarian |accessdate=22 March 2012 |archivedate=4 March 2016 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304200927/http://paper.standartnews.com/bg/article.php?article=36121 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
The monastery was founded during the Second Bulgarian Empire, either in the 12th<ref name="nikolova-houston-82">{{cite book|last=Nikolova-Houston|first=Tatiana Nikolaeva|title=Margins and marginality: Marginalia and colophons in South Slavic manuscripts during the Ottoman period, 1393–1878|publisher=ProQuest|year=2008|page=82|isbn=9780549650751}}</ref> or 13th century.<ref name="kay"/> According to a stone inscription reportedly placed into the foundations of the church, the exact year of its foundation is 1158, during the Byzantine rule of Bulgaria.<ref name="bousfield"/><ref name="dimitrov"/> The medieval part of the monastery's history is documented in its commemoration codex (''pomenik''), which also includes lists of medieval Bulgarian and Serbian monarchs.<ref name="nikolova-houston-82"/>
The Etropole Monastery reached its apogee between the 16th and 18th centuries, when it emerged as the most important literary and cultural centre of the northern Bulgarian lands<ref name="kay"/><ref name="bgenc">{{cite book |title=Българска енциклопедия А–Я |trans-title=Bulgarian Encyclopedia A–Ya|publisher=БАН, Труд, Сирма |language=Bulgarian |year=2002 |chapter=ЕТРОПОЛСКИ МАНАСТИР |trans-chapter=ETROPOLE MONASTERY |isbn=9548104083}}</ref> under Ottoman rule, with its own scriptoria and a calligraphic school with a characteristic style. Under abbots Anthony, Zachary and Raphael, who were in charge of the monastery from the 1620s to the 1640s, the Etropole Literary School was a major centre of production for chiefly religious manuscripts. Its influence spread throughout the Balkans to other schools of the time. Particularly active scribes of this period were the priest Valcho, hieromonk Daniel, John the Grammarian<ref name="nikolova-houston-82"/> and Basil of Sofia.<ref name="bghist-school">{{cite book |title=Електронно издание "История на България" |trans-title=Electronic Edition "History of Bulgaria" |language=Bulgarian |last1=Бакалов |first1=Георги |last2=Куманов|first2=Милен|publisher=Труд, Сирма |location=София |year=2003 |isbn=954528613X |chapter=ЕТРОПОЛСКА КНИЖОВНА ШКОЛА |trans-chapter=ETROPOLE LITERARY SCHOOL}}</ref> Thanks to the successful literary efforts of its community, the monastery was able to sustain itself through the sale of manuscripts,<ref name="nikolova-houston-83">Nikolova-Houston, p. 83</ref> in addition to donations from wealthy locals.<ref name="nikolova-houston-82"/> 76 works of the Etropole Literary School are housed by the National Library of Bulgaria and the Museum of Church History.<ref name="standart2005"/>
In the late 19th century, during the last decades of the Ottoman rule of Bulgaria, the time of Bulgaria's struggle for independence, the monastery provided shelter to national hero Vasil Levski and other anti-Ottoman revolutionaries.<ref name="bghist-monastery">Бакалов, "ЕТРОПОЛСКИ МАНАСТИР , "Варовитец" [ETROPOLE MONASTERY, "Varovitets"]"</ref> Levski even had a hiding place specially built for himself at the monastery.<ref name="harrison">{{cite book|last=Harrison|first=Peter|title=Castles of God: fortified religious buildings of the world|publisher=Boydell Press|year=2004|page=134|isbn=9781843830665}}</ref> At present the monastery is inhabited by a small number of nuns.<ref name="bousfield"/>
==Architecture and culture== The monastery's present main church (''katholikon'') is a large cruciform three-naved church that features five hexagon-shaped turret domes.<ref name="kay"/><ref name="bousfield"/> The church was constructed in 1858 or 1859, though its exterior decoration was not finished until 1860 and its current set of interior frescoes were only painted from 1896 to 1907.<ref name="dimitrov"/><ref name="bgenc"/> The main material in the church's construction, limestone, may be the origin of the monastery's alternative name, Varovitets (from Bulgarian варовит ''varovit'', "limy").<ref name="light">{{cite news|url=http://www.capital.bg/light/mesta/2008/11/19/585789_nepristupna_krepost_svetci_i_diavoli_v_planinata/ |title=Непристъпна крепост, светци и дяволи в планината |date=2009-11-19 |trans-title=An impenetrable fortress, saints and devils in the mountain |work=Капитал Light |publisher=Икономедиа АД |accessdate=22 March 2012 |language=Bulgarian |archivedate=3 March 2016 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303232942/http://www.capital.bg/light/mesta/2008/11/19/585789_nepristupna_krepost_svetci_i_diavoli_v_planinata/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The church was designed by the architect Ivan Boyanov (Boyanin) from Bratsigovo and built to replace the old monastery church, which was destroyed because of its deteriorating condition.<ref name="dimitrov"/> The same architect also designed a previous incarnation of the Saint Nedelya Church in Sofia.<ref name="standart2005"/>
In addition to the main church, the Etropole Monastery also includes two smaller chapels and various residential buildings in the Bulgarian National Revival style, which are situated in a grass-covered yard.<ref name="kay"/><ref name="bousfield"/><ref name="light"/> The chapels are each dedicated to Saint John the Baptist and Saints Cosmas and Damian.<ref name="bulgariatravel">{{cite web|url=http://bulgariatravel.org/en/object/512/%D0%95%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%20%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%80 |title=The Etropolski Monastery "St. Trinity" |work=Official Tourism Portal of Bulgaria |publisher=Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism of Bulgaria |accessdate=22 March 2012 |archivedate=23 June 2012 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120623032107/http://bulgariatravel.org/en/object/512/%D0%95%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%20%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%80 |url-status=dead }}</ref> One of the rooms in the residential quarters functions as a small museum to Vasil Levski, focusing on his time hiding at the monastery.<ref name="light"/>
Among the valuable items in possession of the monastery are two 15th-century<ref name="standart2005"/> crosses with rich silver decoration and a gold-plated ossuary.<ref name="kay"/> The oldest icon from the Etropole Monastery is a rendition of the Holy Trinity of the Old Testament from 1598 painted by the teacher Nedyalko from Lovech; several 17th- and 18th-century icons previously in use at the monastery are now part of the National Art Gallery's collection.<ref name="dimitrov"/>
The monastery celebrates its holiday on Pentecost, the feast of the Holy Trinity. In the woods in the vicinity of the monastery are the Varovitets Waterfall, {{convert|15|m|ft|abbr=off}} high,<ref name="standart2005"/> and its source, an eponymously named karst spring.<ref name="light"/><ref name="bulgariatravel"/>
==References== {{commons category|Etropole Monastery}} {{reflist|2}}
{{Etropole}}
Category:Bulgarian Orthodox monasteries Category:Christian monasteries established in the 12th century Category:Christian monasteries established in the 13th century Category:Christian monasteries in Bulgaria Category:Churches completed in 1858 Category:Churches completed in 1859 Category:Buildings and structures in Sofia Province