Rila Monastery

Bulgaria's most revered monastery grew from the mountain hermitage of St John of Rila, a 10th-century ascetic whose tomb drew pilgrims deep into the Rila range. The complex that rose around it anchored Bulgarian spiritual life through the medieval centuries and the long Ottoman era; after a devastating fire it was rebuilt between 1834 and 1862 in the exuberant style of the National Revival. UNESCO inscribed Rila Monastery as World Heritage in 1983, a symbol of Slavic cultural identity.