Location:
The historical Dryanovo monastery, St Archangel Michael, is situated about 4km away from Dryanovo in the picturesque gorge of the Dryanovo river where limestone rocks rise high on all sides of the gorge as inapproachable forest walls.
About the monastery:
It is believed that the first monastery in this place was founded some 2km to the north of the present-day buildings, in an area called The Little St Archangel. Its founders were two rebel boyars of the then-capital city of Turnovo –the Assen and Petar brothers. In the 14th century, the holy place was one of the main centres of Hesychasm and sheltered many monks. At the beginning of the 15th century, the monastery was destroyed by the invading Ottoman troops. Later on, it was reconstructed on a neighbouring site, known as the Big St Archangel, but the fate of this monastery was no happier than that of its predecessor. The Dryanovo monastery was restored anew at the end of the 17th century, this time in its present-day place. The main church of that time had a single nave and was half-hidden in the ground. It was standing very near to the present-day church; besides it, there was also a secondary shrine.
