Belashtitza

The St.George Monastery is situated one kilometer southeast of the village of Belashtitsa, and some 8 km north of Plovdiv. The monastery was founded in 11th century (in the year 1020) by the Byzantine army-leader Nikifore Xifius (who played a key role in the capture of the Tsar Samuil’s soldiers near the village of Klyuch), and in 1364 it is ravaged by the Turks. Rebuilt in 18th century, it is again destroyed in a fire by the Turks when they were leaving during the Turkish-Russian War. After the Liberation the monastery was restored but remained in Greek jurisdiction until 1906. At the moment it is a functioning nun monastery, and is declared a Monument of Culture. The monastery is a complex consisting of a church, civil and agricultural buildings and a chapel. The church was built in 1838 and is one-nave, one-apse building, with an inner and open narthex, without any dome or wall paintings. Under the open narthex is the holy spring, and in the yard there is a beautiful stone fountain, built in 1831. Next to the monastery, in the village of Belashtitsa, grows the tree having the largest trunk in Bulgaria – a sycamore, with a trunk roundabout measurement of 15 meters.