The Thousand-Year-Old Mystery of the Church at Zemen Monastery

Nothing draws travellers in quite like a gripping story – especially one that weaves together ancient symbols, secret societies and a pleasing tickle of national pride.

If you think Boyana Church is the one and only example of medieval Bulgarian architecture and wall painting, then you really must visit Zemen Monastery too. I’d heard about this mysterious holy place many times, but sadly I’d never had the chance to get there. Not until now, that is, when I decided to fill every sunny spring weekend with a new and interesting destination near Sofia – an area I still don’t know all that well.

Full of excitement, I set off for Zemen. The weather is glorious and sunny, and everything has already turned green – a feast for the eyes. I drive along the winding roads of the Konyavska Mountain, marvelling at the scenery. I reach the little town and turn onto Zemenski Manastir Street, which leads straight to the monastery it’s named after. I park and hop out eagerly. I shut the car door and peer over the stone wall, just like the ones around old National Revival houses. What a sight. In the middle of the monastery courtyard stands the impressive church – the only cube-shaped church in the Balkans. A church that has kept more than ten centuries of history. A real gem. I head for the entrance and step inside.

The former monastery, once home to a community of monks, was declared a cultural monument in 1966, and today it’s regarded as a unique example of Bulgarian medieval architecture and art. Since 2004 it has been a branch of the National Museum of History. The first thing that strikes you is how well kept the courtyard is, with its neatly trimmed, fresh green grass and the riot of flowers in bloom, scattered around or arranged in pots under the veranda. Benches and tree-stump seats sit in the shade of tall old trees, inviting you to rest.

Over the years the monastery in Zemen was destroyed many times, but the Church of St John the Theologian survived intact. Facts, theories and legends intertwine as they try to answer the questions: who built the church? Who created the only cube-shaped church in the Balkans?

How do you get there?

Zemen Monastery is about a kilometre from the town of Zemen, one of the smallest towns in Bulgaria. It lies 70 km south-west of Sofia. The road runs through Pernik and Radomir and is in pretty good condition, and the signs along the way will keep you on track the whole time, so you’ll easily find it even without satnav. Cars park on the road itself, beside the low wall around the monastery, which stands 1–1.5 m high and is built of rough stone topped with new roof tiles.

A history of the monastery

Remarkably, the monastery was destroyed and rebuilt many times, yet the church has survived for more than nine centuries. The monastery was ravaged during Krakra’s battles with the Byzantines, the Serbian raids of 1189 and the Ottoman invasions at the end of the 14th century.

The interior is a fine example of cross-domed architecture, with no space in front of the apse and no narthex. The floor is still covered with its original paving of multicoloured stone slabs, polished to a shine over the centuries by the feet of pilgrims. The church has three naves and three apses and is one of the few to have survived from the Middle Ages. The dome is built of stone and rises on a tall cylindrical drum.

The greatest treasure of Zemen Monastery, and the reason visitors flock here from all over the world, is its exceptional 14th-century frescoes, which you can see in their original state. None of them have been restored – they’ve only been cleaned and conserved.

In 1867 master builder Milenko Velev from the village of Blateshnitsa built the first monastery building, consecrated on 20 May (St John the Theologian’s day). Ever since, a traditional spring fair has been held on that day in honour of the saint.

In the 19th century the monastery was not only a religious centre but also a hotbed of revolutionary activity. On the eve of the April Uprising, Abbot Mihail of Zemen organised a band of rebels to join the uprising, and he paid for it with his life. After the Liberation, a small bell tower was added in the courtyard next to the living quarters, and in the early 20th century Father Yanaki Mitov built the new two-storey monastery building.

Until 1966, the St John the Theologian Monastery was still active. In its final decades it served as a kind of sanatorium for monks with mental illnesses. That was when the ancient frescoes were discovered, and the Holy Synod agreed to hand the monastery over to the National Museum of History. In return, another church of St John the Theologian was built in the centre of Zemen – one of the few built under Communism.

Despite all the changes over the years, it has always been a magnet not only for pilgrims, romantics and mystics but also for Bulgaria’s treasure hunters.

Amateur archaeologists search the area around it for the treasure of the founder of the Shishman royal dynasty – Tsar Michael III Shishman Asen.

According to legend, the Bulgarian ruler was killed in battle against the Serbian king Stefan Dečanski in 1330 near the fortress of Zemlangrad.

Architecture unique in the Balkans

One of the few surviving monuments of Bulgarian medieval architecture and wall painting, the monastery is made up of a church, a small bell tower and two interconnected buildings. The church is the oldest and most architecturally remarkable building at Zemen Monastery. It’s a cross-domed, three-apsed structure – a cube-shaped space with a stone dome set on a tall cylindrical drum – and its walls are built of dressed blocks of tufa bound with mortar.

When the monastery was renovated in the 19th century, the church gained a direct entrance from the courtyard to the altar. The altar itself is a massive stone slab, with a floor of multicoloured marble and stone slabs and ancient bricks. Legend has it that the stone altar will grant your wish if you place your left hand on it.

The living faces of the church

Experts are drawn to the monument not only by its architecture but also by its remarkable frescoes from the 11th to the 14th centuries. These vivid, true-to-life figures belong to the so-called folk tradition in the art of the Second Bulgarian Empire, which stood apart from the official trends in medieval wall painting.

The frescoes of the first layer of painting date from the second half of the 11th century. The only image to survive from the church’s first painting is of St Anne.

The signature image of Zemen Church is the scene showing the forging of the nails used to fix Christ to the cross.

The fresco of the double Christ in the scene of “The Communion of the Apostles” is truly unique. Unlike the usual depiction, in which Christ offers the bread with one hand and the wine with the other, here the Saviour is painted twice.

Other striking scenes include “The Dormition of the Mother of God”, “The Annunciation” and 6 donor portraits, among them Despot Deyan Dragash and his wife Doya – one of the earliest surviving portraits of Bulgarian boyars. According to experts, this image is of great artistic value, comparable to the portraits of Sebastokrator Kaloyan and Desislava in Boyana Church.

Among the frescoes dating from around the 12th century, you can make out the scene of “The Rejection of Joachim and Anne’s Offerings”, the remains of an image of a royal figure – David or Solomon – and fragments of the faces of Saints Constantine and Helena.

Here you can also see one of the earliest frescoes of St John of Rila discovered so far.

Legends of Zemen Monastery

Several legends about the past of this monastery, which has survived for more than 10 centuries, have been handed down from generation to generation. According to some researchers, the church’s unique cube-shaped architecture comes from the Bogomils’ devotion to this place. Legend has it that they guarded the sign of the Bulgarians here, as the only symbol capable of uniting all religions. Another ancient legend tells how the Crusaders also passed through Zemen, searching for Solomon’s Temple by following written signs in the frescoes.

Whatever legends are told about the monastery, the fact is that it’s a cosy, peaceful place, perfect for a stroll, and the architectural and historical treasures of the church in the monastery complex are well worth seeing.