The road to holy places is always winding. Literally, you do have to meander your way through to the Saints Kirik and Youlita Monastery, located between Bulgaria’s second-largest city of Plovdiv and Assenovgrad. To get there from Plovdiv, you have to take the Assenovgradsko chaussee and watch out for the branch-off to Dolni Voden village. On passing it, proceed to the next village, Gorni Voden, and pay due attention to the U-turn at its exit. Learn the phrase “Накъде е пътя за манастира” (What road leads to the monastery?) because no road signs show the way.
Though no longer a holy place – with no monks whatsoever and only its church operational – the monastery is so secluded in the northern Rhodope Mountains that it is off sight of the Thracian lowland and only reached by the last turn of the snake-like road.
Yet the beautiful sight is worthwhile. A swathe of land houses a parking lot and a green expanse criss-crossed by lanes leading to the complex gate. The open space is encircled by dense broad-leave forests. Only recently, the complex operators added special barbecue places, as well as tennis and basketball courts. One can also walk south to the brink of the southern slope and enjoy a view over the entire Thracian lowland all the way through Sredna Gora. The sight resembles that of Vitosha’s Kopitoto to the Sofia plateau. No wonder it has become one of Plovdivers’ favourite locations for picnics and outings.
Although still referred to as a monastery, it already operates as a secular establishment. The complex currently houses a three-star hotel, where an overnight stay costs 20 leva per bed, as well as a restaurant and cafes. (One can book a room at +359 331/ 679 19 and +359 331/ 647 22.)
While visitors may suggest renovations when they see the communist-era type hotel rooms, basic amenities such as a TV set, phone and bathroom are still available. Yet a number of complaints have cited the sluggish and oft-impolite service at the cafes and restaurant, prompting calls for improved customer care.
On passing through the gate, visitors can witness a neat two-level circular arrangement of wood-laden aisles and staircases framing a boulder-covered courtyard and an operational church. Named after St Petka, the church is large, having three-nave one-dome pseudo-basilica. The iconostasis of the church is alongside some of the icons drawn by renown Bulgarian painter Zahari Zograf during the Bulgarian National Revival. Bulgarian painter Alexi Atanassov sculpted most of the frescoes.
The church, however, is in urgent need of renovation because most mural paintings have bleached over time and the external dilapidated walls are speckled with grass offshoots.
The monastery has had a chequered history in terms of its functionality. The first monastery in Assenovgrad clerical district of the Plovdiv diocese, it was erected at some time in the 14th century. The exact year of construction is unknown. It was originally built close to a holy spring yet during the conversion of Chepintsi Bulgarians (in the western Rhodopes) into the Muslim religion it was razed alongside many other churches and monasteries. In the 17th century the monastery was re-built. In 1810, the monastery was set alight and destroyed by the kurdjalii, brigands – Turkish army deserters – looting the Rhodope lands in the 18th and19th centuries.
Charitable donations enabled reconstruction of the monastery six years later to continue through 1835. The monastery was blessed on October 15 1850. In the mid-19th century, when the Greek and Bulgarian churches feuded for supremacy and independence, the Greek church gained control over St Kirik and Youlita Monastery. The Bulgarian church reinstated authority over the institution in 1930. In 1924 it sustained damage from another fire and, in 1928, from an earthquake.
At that time, St Kirik and Youlita was home to a theological school. In 1943/44, the monastery served as a concentration camp. After September 9 1944, the date of the establishment of the communist regime, the monastery was abandoned and later transformed into a mental institution.
In 1981, the Union of Architects in Bulgaria received a governmental nod to revamp the monastery and re-jig it for secular use. A team of architects and engineers, with Lyubomir Shinkov as lead architect, drew up a plan to restore the monastery into a secular establishment. The project was implemented between 1983 and 1987 under the technical guidance of Hristo Radev. It was inaugurated on September 25 1985 and served for a decade as a site for recreation, creative holidays and conferences.
Now, as mentioned earlier, its function has been reduced to a hotel complex.
