Seven Altars Monastery
Seven Altars Monastery, officially the Monastery of the Most Holy Mother of God, is a Bulgarian Orthodox monastery in western Bulgaria. It sits in the Balkan Mountains on the border between Sofia Province and Vratsa Province, in the Gabrovnitsa River valley. It lies on the road from Eliseyna through the Iskar Gorge to Osenovlag, at the foot of Izdremets Peak (1492 m). It is one of Bulgaria’s 100 Tourist Sites.
Why “Seven Altars”? The church inside has seven altars. Local legend says seven boyars founded seven nearby villages. The church also has seven chapels (altars), and some say there is no other Bulgarian church like this.
The monastery has existed since at least the 16th century. To the north are ruins of a fortress called the “Latin Stronghold”; parts of its wall can still be seen, and the monastery gate came from these ruins.
Another legend says that during Ottoman times the monastery was destroyed by fire and later rebuilt by seven voivodes: Valchan Voyvoda, Father Martin, Spiros Dimitar, Malenko the Serb, Emin Bey, Ali Bey, and Petar. The church was built with seven altars in their honor. St Sophronius of Vratsa, a bishop, lived here when the monastery was part of the Vratsa diocese.
Today the Seven Altars is about 86 km from Sofia and is a popular weekend destination. It offers sleeping quarters and a large dining hall.
Getting there: drive from Eliseyna in the Iskar Gorge. Eliseyna is 42 km from Sofia and 46 km from Mezdra. Eliseyna station serves passenger trains only, and there is a bus to the monastery that waits for the train in the evening. The road from Eliseyna to the monastery is narrow but paved.
In the monastery yard lies the grave of the famous Bulgarian children’s writer Zmey Goryanin (1905–1958). Sequoias are planted in the yard, and their roots have begun to crack the walls.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 14:44 (CET).