Monastery "St. 40 Martyrs"

The Monastery of "St. 40 Martyrs" or Merdan Monastery is an Orthodox monastery located near the village of Merdanya. The monastery was founded in the 13th century during the Second Bulgarian State. According to legend, the monastery was founded on the place where the Patriarch of Turnov, Joankiy  II, solemnly welcomed Tsar Ivan Asen II after his victory at Klokotnitsa, which took place on the feast of St. John the Great Forty Martyrs of Sebaste. After the death of Hadji Kesarius in 1893, most of the monks left the monastery, which gradually declined and was later reopened as a virgin monastery, as it remains today. The monastery complex was declared a monument of culture.