The poster exhibition presents the valley of the Rusenski Lom River as a unique local “Holy Mountain”—a center of worship whose significance is important to both Bulgarians and Romanians. It highlights rock-cut monasteries associated with local saints, including the Ivanovo Monastery of “St. Archangel Michael” (Ivanovo Rock-Cut Churches), the Great Nisovo Monastery, the Basarbovo Monastery, and the Krepchansko Monastery. They emerged in late antiquity, existed after the adoption of Christianity in Bulgaria, experienced a true heyday during the Second Bulgarian Empire (12th–14th centuries), and some survived after the conquest of Bulgaria by the Ottoman Turks. The Basarbovo Monastery is an example of a rock-hewn Christian monastery that is still active today.
The cave holds great sacred significance in Christianity. Jesus Christ was born in a cave and, thirty-three years later, was buried in a rock-hewn tomb, rising from the dead on the third day after his death. This explains the widespread prevalence of rock (cave) monasteries throughout the Christian world. Several saints lived as hermits in the rock monasteries along the Ruse Lom River—St. Patriarch Joachim I, St. Demetrius of Basarbovo, St. Theodosius of Tarnovo, St. Theophana of Basarab, and St. Sophronius of Bulgaria.
The churches are the most meticulously crafted spaces in the rock-hewn monasteries. Their altar areas feature apses that vary in size, depth, and shape, and the altar tables are either carved into the eastern wall itself or set apart in front of it. Hollowed-out sockets for beams and grooves indicate the line along which the altar partition once stood. The partition facing the river valley was sometimes a makeshift structure, but elsewhere, in the more imposing churches, some of which were endowed by the Bulgarian royal court, there were walls resembling those of above-ground churches—tiered facades with alternating bands of stone and brick, featuring niches and arches. Most churches have flat ceilings, but some have vaulted ceilings, and domes are very rare. Some churches jutted out beautifully above the level of the rock massif and dominated the river and the valley.
The exhibition was curated by Dr. Evgeni Georgiev—this is the first exhibition in Bulgarian and Romanian at the Regional History Museum in Ruse, which has already been on display on both sides of the Danube River.
At the official opening of the exhibition at 11:30 a.m., Dr. Evgeni Georgiev will present the rock-hewn monasteries along the Rusenski Lom River.
