Lakatnik Travel Guide

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The name means 'The Seven Oltars'. The monastery is interesting mainly because of the unique architecture of the church. The church consists of 7 oltars where the name of the monastery comes from.
The exact origin of the monastery is not dated. According to one of the versions the monastery (or to be precise) the church was build at the time of Peter Delyan - 11th century. Acording to a legend for the establishment of the monastery it was build by 7 boyars/brothers who come from Bessarabia and made settlements in the 7 villages near the monastery - Osenovlak, Ogoya, Ogradishte, Bukovets, Leskov Dol, Zhelen and Lakatnik.
It is assumed that the monastery was destroyed when Bulgaria fell under the Ottoman rule. Later it was renovated. The monastery was mentioned in writing for the first time in the 16th century. It was burnt out in 1735 following an order of the Turkish Sultan Mahmud and then restored after 1769 when Bulgarians got the right again to build their churches. In 1848 there was a school established in the monastery.
In 1896 the monastery was visited by Sofronij Vrachanski. It was his idea to build a bell from the iron from the Roman fortress near the monastery.
In 1892 the monastery was visited by one of the biggest Bulgarian writers - Ivan Vazov who wrote there a ballad ( Klepaloto bie, in Bulgarian)

The monastery offers accommodation.

Getting to the area of Gara Lakatnik is easiest by train from Sofia, Mezdra or Vidin. After getting off the train you just have to choose where to go.

Iskar Gorge is a favourite place for the locals for making a picnic. In summer time sometimes even it is difficult to find a place near the Iskar river to stop.