"Building of the Monastery Ring" Top 5 Page for this destination Rilski Manastir Things to Do Tip by desert_princess

In 1816 started the last and most massive construction period of the monastery that continued 54 years ,all the way till 1870. All rennaisance crafts were used to bring the monastery its present appearance. Inspiration was seeked all the way to the famous monastery of Aton , but the construction was done by a local artisan from the village of Rila called Aleksii. In 1816 he has built the north wing of the monastery ,in 1817 part of the east ,and 1819 the western wing.
On the 13 january 1833 a huge fire destroyed the new buildings, but all bulgarian towns sent help, workers and artisans to rebuilt what was destructed. For less than a year ,all damages from the fire were repaired. The old Hreljo church was destroyed aswell as it became too small for the ever incresing number of piligrims. The money was unsufficient to build all 4 wings with 4 floors ,so the Old Eastern wing ,located behind the church was compromisingly constructed only with 2. In 1847 the craftsman Milenko from the village of Radomir, built the massive south wing ,with which he closed the ring of buildings around the church.
In the Monastery there are 139 rooms ,equipped with 126 kitchens. 77 from those rooms are used by the priests ,clercs and so on, 62 rooms are for guests ( from which 39 small - for 105 persons ,and 23 big common rooms - accomodating 800 people. There are aswell another 45 rooms for monastery economy, kitchens , eating rooms , warehouses etc
The monastery wings are forming an irregulary square composed of : western wing - 67meters , north wing 105 m, the angle of the north wing - 24m , the massive east part - 49m ,the old east building - 53m and the south wing - 79m. The total length of the ring is 377meters.