Batoshevo Monastery

The Monastery of St John the Forerunner lies approximately 17 km south of Sevlievo, 22 km west of Gabrovo and 50 km southwest of Veliko Tarnovo. It stands on a high slope west of the Rositsa River, around four kilometres south-southwest of Batoshevo and one kilometre west of Popska.
Historical evidence indicates that it was founded in the thirteenth century during Michael II Asen's reign. According to a stone inscription from 1836, held in the National Archaeological Museum in Sofia, it was built on Patriarch Joachim's initiative: he cleared the forest in the wilderness and erected a church in honour of the Most Holy Mother of God Matorska and St John the Theologian. Tsar Michael Asen granted it the villages of Batoshovo, Viten and Ribare. The monastery is thought to have been destroyed and plundered by the Ottomans during their conquests.
In 1809 the monk Isak settled on the site of the ruined monastery and began efforts to rebuild it. In 1836, with local support, the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God and some residential buildings were erected. Its first abbot was Hadzhi Makariy from Troyan, and the monastery became a religious school.
It also became a centre of revolutionary activity. In 1836, during the April Uprising, the Ottomans burnt and plundered it, but the church survived.
Today it is an active complex comprising a church, two-storey residential buildings, a bell tower and service buildings. The Church of the Dormition was built in 1836 under master builder Konstantin of Peshtera. The residential buildings date from the mid-nineteenth century, while the church interior has wall paintings by Tsanyu Zahariev of the Tryavna School of Painting. Its carved wooden iconostasis has rich plant ornamentation and icons depicting St George, St Nicholas, St Michael the Archangel, the Mother of God, Christ Pantocrator and others.