Chiprovtsi's development reached its apogee in the 17th century, when it became a bustling cultural, religious and merchant centre of that part of the Balkans. Named the "flower of Bulgaria" in that period, some have deemed the town's prosperity the Balkans' only participation in the Renaissance, along with that of Dalmatia. Many members of the local élite were educated in Rome, particularly at the Collegio Clementino and the Sapienza University. Gradually, the foreign Franciscans were replaced by locals and in the 1620s the Bulgarian Catholics formed a separate autonomous entity directly subordinate to the Pope, the "Bulgarian Custody". Solinat was succeeded by a Bulgarian bishop, Iliya Marinov of Chiprovtsi, who was in turn followed by another local, Petar Bogdan Bakshev, who travelled to Wallachia, Warsaw, Vienna, Rome and Ancona looking for funds and support for the community. In the 1640s, the Bulgarian Custody gave way to the Diocese of Marcianopolis presided by Petar Parchevich and the Diocese of Nicopoli headed by Filip Stanislavov and represented in Chiprovtsi by Franchesko Soymirovich. The town and the surrounding areas were not entirely Catholic: a significant part of the population was Orthodox; the Orthodox Chiprovtsi Monastery still exists today.