In the 18th-19th centuries Bansko maintained good relations with the Rila Monastery; there is a myth in the village about a priest, Joseph the Builder. Bansko pilgrimage groups donate generously to the monastery (in 1840 they received 4310 pennies). Molerov's Bansko painters are famous for their murals in the church and chapels of the monastery and for its icons. Bansko supplies food to the priests' brotherhood - beans, soap, olive oil, etc. In 1852 the Banskali Todor erected an iron statue, as a gift for the monastery in the village of Rila.