Location:
The present-day complex of the Kilifarevo monastery, St Birth of Virgin Mary, lies in the valley of the Belitsa river, about 4km to the southeast of the town of Kilifarevo (close to Veliko Turnovo). At the very beginning of its existence, the cloister was situated on the near-by hill.
About the monastery:
It is believed that intially, the Kilifarevo monastery was built between 1348 and 1350. Its founder is the renowned Bulgarian clergyman, Teodosii of Turnovo, who with the help of the then-ruler, Tsar Ivan Alexander, transformed the cloister into one of the most important centres of the Bulgarian education and literature of the Middle Ages. A Kilifarevo school of literature was established for a short period of time and in 1360, this was already teaching 460 students, the most famous of which was the future Bulgarian Patriarch, Evtimii of Turnovo.
