Courtyard of Bachkovo Monastery |Other names||Petritsoni
Monastery; Monastery of the Mother of God Petritzonitissa|
|Location||Bachkovo, Asenovgrad Municipality, Plovdiv Province|
The Bachkovo Monastery (Bulgarian: Бачковски манастир,
Bachkovski manastir, Georgian: პეტრიწონის მონასტერი, Petritsonis
Monasteri), archaically the Petritsoni Monastery or Monastery of
the Mother of God Petritzonitissa in Bulgaria is an important
monument of Christian architecture and one of the largest and
oldest Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Europe. It is located on
the right bank of the Chepelare River, 189 km from Sofia and 10
km south of Asenovgrad, and is directly subordinate to the Holy
Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The monastery is known
and appreciated for the unique combination of Byzantine,
Georgian and Bulgarian culture, united by the common faith. The
monastery was founded in 1083 by Prince Gregory Pakourianos, a
prominent statesman and military commander in the Byzantine
service, as a Byzantine Iberian Orth