Sveta Gora - Athos, is the biggest center of the Orthodox monks, which has preserved the hermit tradition up to this day.

As early as the advanced Middle Ages, 9-10 c., numerous groups of monks were established in separate hamlets, cells and big hostels - various types of monasteries, scattered all over the mountainous peninsula. The mild climate and the surrounding environment were suitable for the life of hermits. Having been subjected to various ideological influences in the 10-11 c. the hermit tradition on the peninsula acquired peculiarities, which were preserved for a long time. Personalities like Athanasius of Athos, founder of the Lavra (big monastery) monastery, Eutimius Studites, etc. became examples worthy to be followed and left deep traces in the traditions of Athos. It was in that period that monks from various Orthodox nations were settled on the peninsula.

In the Athos monasteries the conditions were favorable for the flourishing of ecclesiastical and ritual arts, for the building of temples, chapels, decorated with mosaics, frescoes and icons, for the creation of woodcarving pieces, metal works, artistic fabrics, etc. Plenty of books were copied and written in Greek, Slavonic and other languages and were ornate with miniatures.

During the period of the Ottoman Rule, 15-19 c., the Athos monasteries experienced hardships, but their history was rich in events. In spite of the hard conditions of life they were not only nests for preserving the Christian faith but also centers of national spiritual culture of the peoples of the Balkan Peninsula.

Documents have proved that as early as 10 c. the Zograph Monastery, whose patron was St. George, was member of the family of the Athos monasteries. According to legends it was founded in the late 9 c.or the early 10 c. by three brothers Bulgarians by birth - Moysey (Moses), Aaron and Ivan Selima from the town of Ohrid. According to legends and the names of mentioned donors, its first donor was the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI Wise, i.e. the Monastery was founded after Christianity had been adopted in Bulgaria (865) and most probably in the late 9 c. It was named Zograph (icon-painter) Monastery, because a legend said that an icon with the image of St. George had disappeared from Syria and St. George had painted himself on a board here in a miraculous way. The legend alludes to the icon of St. George from Fanuil, which is found in the Monastery cathedral and considered miracle-working. It is one of the oldest icons of the Zograph Monastery and probably goes back to 13-14 c. Another old and miracle-working icon with the image of the same saint, which according to legends had come here from Arabia, was called the icon from Arabia. It is one of the old relics of the Monastery church and is possessed of the stylistic features of the 12-13 c. art. During the 10 centuries of its existence the Zograph Monastery had a complicated experience. A great number of celebrated personalities and donors linked their life with it. In the first half of 13 c. tsar Ivan Assen II (1217-1241) became a.donor of the Monastery and contributed to its renovation. In 1275 pirates raided the Monastery and set it on fire. Twenty-six monks-icon painters along with the abbot were burned up in the Monastery tower. That was why they were proclaimed martyrs of the Christian faith.

Towards the end of 18 c. the buildings of the Monastery were reconstructed owing to the funds granted by Emperor Andronicus Paleologos. Later. on in 16 c. donors of the Monastery were the Bulgarian tsars Ivan Alexander, Ivan Shishman etc. Many Bulgarian men of letters and clergymen linked their names with Athos and the 2ograph Monastery - Joan Kukuzel, patriarchs Joachim, Theodosius and Eutimius of Turnovo (Ephtimi Turnovski) etc.

During the Ottoman Rule the Zograph Monsstery shared the fate of the other Athos monasteries. At the end of 15 c. and in the 16 c. it was supported by the Moldavian Voyvodas in whose lands it had some estates and from 17 to 19 c. - by Bulgarian and Russian donors.

The pilgrimage was one of the ways for the monks to get in touch with the developing settlements in Bulgaria to preserve their faith, language and writing. Bulgarian pilgrims presented gifts not only to the Zograph Monastery, but also to the Hilendar Monastery, The Great Lavra of St.Athanasius, to the Kareya, liver, Dionisus Monasteries, etc. The greater part of the buildings in the neighboring Hilendar Monastery, dated 18-19 c., in which many Bulgarian monks were living at that time, were built thanks to the funds granted by some people from Bansko, Koprivshtitsa, Stara Zagora, Vidin, etc. Painter Pimen Zographski, the original Bulgarian historians Spiridon and Paissi Hilendarski, the latter being the author of the "Slavonic-Bulgarian History", developed and showed their worth on Athos.

The Monastery is a closed rectangle in the center of which is the old Assumption (Uspenie Bogorodichno) church, built in 1764 with the funds of Hadji Vulcho from Bansko, and the new St. George Cathedral, built in 1801, whose decoration was begun by icon-painter Niciphor and finished by Mitrophan in 1817. The beautiful and imposing whltestone Monastery complex, situated in the interior of the peninsuls, is in harmony with the surrounding environment.

In the Monastery and around it there are about half a score chapels decorated with carved wood iconostasis, mural paintings and carvings. This is the chapel of John the Baptist, decorated in 1768 with the help of Hadji Vassili from Lovech, who had granted the appropriate funds, St. Demetrius and Transfiguration chapels, dating back to the same year, Cyril and Methodius chapel and the Twenty Six Martyr-Icon-painters chapel, St. Cosmas Zographski chapel and the church chapels at St. George school and at the Transfiguration (Preobrazhenie Gospodne) church and the Zograph Konak (administrative building) in Kareya, dated 19 c., St. Nicholas church at the port (Arsanatal, dated 15-16 c., etc. The mural paintings and iconostasis in the Assumption church and the principal Monastery church are the biggest in size and make the most striking effect. Along with the recognized Scripture subjects many history pictures and donor portraits are included here. In the churches and the Museum Collection of the Zograph Monastery there are a number of interesting icons, dating back to 19 c., which are painted by different icon-painters and belong to various school and trends.

In the Middle Ages and especially during the Bulgarian National Revival many Bulgarian icon-painters and woodcarvers left remarkable works in the Zograph Monastery on Athos. In 1862 the famous Bulgarian iconpainter Zahari Zograph worked in the narthex of the principal church of The Groat Lavra of St. Athanasius. A year later he painted also the icons for the iconostasis in the Transfiguration church at the Zograph Konak in Kareya.

The Zograph Monastery possesses plenty of very old books and documents besides the great architecture wealth, the mural paintings and iconpaintings. Bulgarian grammarians and copyists wrote a great quantity of Slavonic manuscripts, which are still preserved in the library of the Monastery or are scattered in the other monasteries in Sveta Gora. A significant number of manuscripts written on parchment sheets and paper, dating back to 11 - 19 c., are preserved in the library. Here is found the remarkable Zograph Glagolitic Gospel, dating back to 11 c., Dragan's book (mineos) about church services and Radomir's psalm-book, written and ornamented with miniatures in 18 c., Patriarch Ephtimi Turnovski's book of divine services. Here one can find the beadrolls of the Bulgarian tsars, having reigned in the Middle Ages, which were copied in 17-18 c. from old originals) the original of the "Slavonic-Bulgarian History" written by Paissi Hilendarski in 18 c., many old-printed books and other interesting documents.

In the family of the Athos monasteries the Zograph Monastery has preserved the deeply rooted traditions of faith and culture. Today it is an original museum and center of spiritual culture, a treasure-house of cultural and spiritual values, piled up down the ages.