Years of Hardships
During the Russian-Turkish War (1877-1888), Kazanlak was seized twice by the Russian armies. After the fall of Stara Zagora (July 19, 1877), a huge flow of refugees headed for the Balkan Mountains. When they went through Kazanlak, some of the people took shelter in the monastery. The nuns along with the Abbess Ekapitolina joined the ranks of frightened fugitives. There is evidence that the troops of Suleiman Pasha, pursuing the fugitives, were deployed in the convent yard after slaughtering some 340 wounded and sick women, children and old people, who had taken shelter there. The church was temporarily turned into a jail, where the captured Bulgarian and Russian soldiers were shackled, tortured and massacred. All donations received from Russia and elsewhere were plundered, while the murals at the altar and the icons were desecrated by pricking out the eyes of the images. According to the monastery chronicle, on their flight the Turks made an attempt to burn down the temple. As a result the murals were heavily smoked and their beauty lay hidden from the eyes of the laity until recently.

On December 27, 1877, the Russian army liberated Kazanlak and put an end to the desecration of the monastery relics.

Today in the yard of the monastery, right in front of the church, there is a monument consisting of two columns joined by a metal ring. On one of them is written “To the Russian soldiers and the Bulgarian rebels, who perished for the Liberation of Bulgaria (1877–1878)”, on the other – “In memory of the 340 innocent women, children and old people from Kazanlak, atrociously massacred by the Ottoman hordes (August 1877)”. On the back side of the monument, under the ring joining the two columns, is engraved the following stanza, “There is no greater and dearer wealth, there isn’t a more strong or fatherly shield than the Bulgarian-Russian-Soviet brotherhood, cast from fire and blood, and granite!”

At the end of December 1877, the nuns offered the military command of the Bryansk-Orlovsk units to use part of the two-story house to the east of the temple as a temporary military hospital and together with the Russian nurses they took care of the wounded and the sick. Yet the destiny of some of them was to remain in the monastery yard for good. Alongside the graves of nuns and abbesses are those of soldiers from the fifth detachment of the Bulgarian volunteer corps, who died from their wounds, and of many Russian officers and soldiers. Here was also buried the Muslim-converted Englishman and officer from the Turkish army Leman Pasha. Legend has it that prior to his death, repenting the betrayal of his faith, he wished to be buried at the entrance of the temple so as to be “trodden upon” by the Christians, who entered and left the church. Six of the gravestones have been proclaimed cultural monuments of regional importance.

The Restoration – True Renaissance of the Temple
“Today, 135 years after the painting of the temple and almost 130 years after its desecration, we have the pleasure to be the first to see and take delight in the murals in their original beauty and glamour!” Tanya Dimova and her restoration team comprising Nadezhda Donkova and Sasha Stoynova acknowledge their great professional opportunity. Despite the economic hardships in the country in 2000, a group of patriotic Bulgarians set up an initiative committee, which was to manage the restoration work on the monastery wall, while in 2001 a project was drawn up and subsequently approved by the National Institute for Monuments of Culture, which the restorers have been fulfilling for three years now.

“Since the murals were seriously damaged by the smoke and we had no idea what lurked beneath the layer of soot, we made a photographic documentation in advance – with special lighting we took pictures of each painting in detail so in case of destroying part of the mural in the process of restoration it could be restored to its original condition,” commented Tanya Dimova. “Indeed, we did not have a clue as to what the colors would be like. And then suddenly superb scenes emerged from under the soot – revealing bright colors and compelling painting art! The three master painters, who painted the church, were not schooled, but they observed the painting canon described in the so-called iconography manual and covered a large number of biblical scenes and figures from the history of Christianity. Yet the murals also give a feel of the freedom of the Revival artists, who could afford interpretations of their own. Moreover, as iconography, composition, and layout of the scenes in the interior, the murals can be affiliated to the models characteristic of the Late Revival Period. There is usage of techniques, stylistics and ideas typical of the West European painting art of the time. The preserved documents provide evidence that during the Revival Period in Bulgaria were imported cards with reproductions of Italian, French and German masters, which exerted a strong influence on the Bulgarian icon painters. For example, in the group of the archangels, painted by Georgi Danchov, we can recognize the painting Freedom Leads the People by Delacroix, which is really impressive!”

The Abbesses and the Nuns
Through its almost two-century-long dramatic history, the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Convent was run by a significant number of abbesses and inhabited by nuns, blending the profound faith in God and the humbleness before Him with unparalleled patriotism, energy and fighting spirit, demonstrated while raising funds for the monastery, in the ambition to establish a monastery girls’ school, in coping with the adversities during the Liberation War and afterwards.

The traveler Felix Kanitz, the diplomats Konstantin Irechek and Naiden Gerov, Zahari Knyazheski, Mihail Zolotarev, Konstantin Bozveliev and others were deeply impressed by the patriotic activities of these women. Better known are the names of the founder Susana Gencheva, Zinovia Stanchova, Ekapitolina Teodorova, Zinovia II Ivanova, Toektista Yovkova, Natalia, Apolinaria, etc. In the last ten years the monastery has been managed by Abbess Natalia II with the secular name Minka, born in Varna. At the moment there are 12 nuns.

“I came here some 20 years ago by virtue of God’s providence,” Mother Natalia said. “I remained all alone in life – apparently this was the will of God. I was religious even before that; I would go to church regularly and sing in the church choir. The faith had always appealed to me, therefore I did not find it hard to abandon my secular life and take the vow. I was already 60 years old when I was accepted here and then I was ordained as Abbess. With God’s help I manage to guide the nuns, cope with the problems and hardships, and resist the temptations. We are trying to support ourselves on our own – with handicrafts, by working in the weaving workshop or by renting out the monastery lands. In winter the monastery is relatively deserted. In summer we have tourists coming to visit us. Recently our guest was a Russian Bishop accompanied by a delegation. They paid homage to the graves of the perished Russian soldiers. As the church is closed, people from the town come for baptism or to light a candle in the chapel. When the restoration works come to an end later on this year, I hope that the interest in the monastery and the temple will grow…

Each monastery has a patron saint and a miracle-working icon. We also have the miraculous icon of the Holy Virgin. A few years ago came a mother with her sick child. Having elapsed in a coma, the child could not be diagnosed at the hospital. We saved him with prayers – that was the miracle of God’s Mother. She saved me, too – I was almost gone. I could see myself from aside detaching myself from the life on earth, but then I returned. Obviously it was God’s decision to keep me on earth to complete my mission. God’s miracles are plentiful and genuine. Yet one must believe in them…”

… I get enveloped once again in silence and solitude in the monastery yard. The autumn wind blows the last leaves off the tall branchy walnut tree outside the belfry narthex, an extension to the temple. The graves, sheltered by its walls, spread the fragrance of bunches of late chrysanthemums, laid by the caring hands of nuns and church-goers. I leave the monastery thinking that everyone who values the history and culture not only of Bulgaria, but also of the Old and New Europe should visit this place.

Yordanka Tropolova