SAINT HARALAMPIUS MONASTERY

Built in 1205 during the reign of King Kaloyan, shortly before the arrival of the despot Slav.

It is known that after having ruined Philippopolis (Plovdiv) in 1205 as a punitive measure Kaloyan moved to Melnik all the Roman betrayers. Their ethnic community is probably headed by sebastos Basil Bambulinos. It is assumed that this Byzantine nobleman is the founder of the Saint Haralampius monastery. Interconnected through a common wall entrance in the monastery yard there were three churches – the St. John Prodromos – the Precursor Church in the antechamber and Saint Archangel and Saint Haralampius. The double temple was decorated with beautiful paintings.

One of the most valuable finds of this temple is Mednokovana bell(wrought copper) – a gift from the despot Alexius Slav, dated in the period of 1211 – 1217. This is the oldest bell in Europe and the earliest Christian bell in the world.

Тhe construction of the monastery – the earliest monastic cloister in Melnik so far – was the beginning of the shaping of the eastern half of the fortress as a monastic zone.  It was a small Holy Mountain(Mount Athos) in an urban environment where at the end of the fourteenth century there were already four monasteries.