Rila Monastery and Boyana Church Day Tour | Small-Group & Pickup

Take a day to visit the cultural heart of Bulgaria: Rila Monastery and Boyana Church. Discover the origins of the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets and learn about the monastery’s role in Bulgaria’s political and Orthodox history. The artistic richness of frescoes, carvings, and ancient monuments at these sites is immense. Rila Monastery features a large museum complex with a library holding around 3,500 exhibits, including 300 manuscripts and 9,000 printed works from the 11th to 19th centuries. Also preserved are the relics of St. Ivan Rilski, patron saint of Bulgaria, the icon of the Most Holy Mother of God Osenovitsa, and relics of 32 early Christian saints. Boyana Church, near Sofia, was built in the 10th century and reflects the Byzantine-Balkan Renaissance. It houses the famed 13th-century portrait of Desislava, the “Bulgarian Mona Lisa.” Both sites are UNESCO-listed — join the tour and discover why.