Dryanovo Monastery

      About 5-6 km. from the town of Dryanovo, on the road to the town of Gabrovo, is Dryanovo Monastery “St. Archangel Michael”. It was founded in the XII century during the reign of Tsar Kaloyan after the transfer of the relics of St. Michael the Warrior from Potuka to Tarnovgrad in 1206.

     The monastery has a centuries-old history, with data on its first inhabitants dating back to prehistoric times, when the main shelter was the cave Bacho Kiro. Until antiquity, the population was mostly Thracian, arranging their homes in the stone openings and cavities of the cave.

     Bacho Kiro Cave is located about 300 meters west of the monastery. It is named after the hero of the April Uprising – Bacho Kiro. It was intensively inhabited by prehistoric man, and the finds found in it are one of the earliest evidence of human presence in Europe.

     The history of the monastery is difficult and difficult, which was the main center for the development of Bulgarian Christianity and culture. It has been demolished twice. It was first burned by the Ottomans in 1393, after which the local population rebuilt it in the 16th century, but the same fate befell it.

     At the end of the 17th century, the Dryanovo Monastery of St. Archangel Michael was built on its current site and is a functioning Bulgarian male monastery. During the Renaissance the monastery had a huge library, which made it one of the largest and most important literary centers in Bulgaria.

     For the third time the monastery was burned by the Kardzhali people, after which it was completely restored. In the 19th century, its renovation began with the construction of numerous residential buildings, and a brand new church was built in 1845.

     Dryanovo Monastery also played an extremely important role in the preparation of the April Uprising of 1876, as its main role was to store food supplies and weapons.

     The monastery has a museum exhibition “Archeology and Revival”, an exhibition of personal belongings of the insurgents and rebels of the April Uprising, a great tourist souvenir shop. There is a recreation area in the monastery, there is a hotel and a playground.

     Dryanovo Monastery “St. Archangel Michael” is one of the most revered saints of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, and since 1971 it has been declared a national cultural monument and together with the cave Bacho Kiroe part of the Hundred National Tourist Sites.