Sofia Holy Mountains

Bulgaria is remarkable both for the density of monasteries on her territory and for their artistic merit, derived from a tradition of monastery building dating back to the 9^th century. For this reason, the monasteries are historical treasuries of the arts, including architecture, painting and music. They are also archives of Christian Orthodox philosophy and history since the tradition was established in early monastic times for monks, in addition to their religious duties, to work as scribes, translators and copyists. Hence began the tradition of monasteries as repositories of documents, written works and historical records, both religious and secular. Although this is the role of monasteries of all religions throughout the world, in Bulgaria this role was particularly significant since it was through the monasteries that Bulgaria retained its own identity and preserved its records through the 500 years of Ottoman domination.