Ivanovo rock churches The World Heritage List was established under the terms of an international treaty called ‘The Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage’, adopted on November 16, 1972
at the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and in effect since 1975.
Bulgaria came to be among the first twenty countries, which entered and signed this Convention. The World Heritage Committee has placed the following 9 sites on the List of Cultural and Natural World Heritage: the Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak, the Thracian Tomb of Sveshtari, the Ancient City of Nessebar, the Horseman of Madara, the Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo, Boyana Church, Rila Monastery, and the nature reserves: Srebarna Nature Reserve and Pirin National Park.
The Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo are an integral part of the large monastery complex called “St. Michael the Archangel”, an exceptional spiritual and literary center of Bulgarian Medieval art. This complex was developed during the time of the second Bulgarian kingdom by church hermits.
The 14th-century murals, rock-hewn churches, chapels, monasteries, monk’s cells, and unique mural paintings in the style of the Tarnovo and Constantinople School (14th century) survived to this day, having weathered the vicissitudes of history. |
Bulgaria 
