St Haralampius Monastery
"St Haralampius" St Archangels monastery (in Bulgarian - manastir "Sveti Haralampiy" Sveti Arhangeli) is situated not far from Mel
St Haralampius Monastery
"St Haralampius" St Archangels monastery (in Bulgarian - manastir "Sveti Haralampiy" Sveti Arhangeli) is situated not far from Melnik in the hills of St Nicholas to the South of the town. It is a monument of culture of national significance.
This monastery (which is currently considered the earliest in Melnik) is mentioned in three notes, part of the Aprakos of the 11-th century which is kept at the National Library of Greece in Athens. The first of them indicates the potential year of its construction - 1206 and its presumed ktitor sebastocrator Vasiliy Vambulinos.
The design and spatial composition of the monastery was classic. It was constructed as a close-type architectural ensemble with a semi-opened anteroom with church "St John Prodromos-Precursor", a bell tower and a holy spring.
The court was steeply sloped to the West where the monastery’s katolikon was situated. It consisted of two one-transept one-apse naves - "Saint Archangels" and "Saint Haralampius" without a narthex and under the same roof. They have been richly decorated by two-layer wall-p