Initially, the monastery was situated in the Kitka area at the foot of Mount Tumba. The oldest monastic buildings date back to the 11th-12th centuries. Excavations at both its old and new locations reveal remnants of a rectangular monastic wing and a rectangular defensive tower. Such fortifications were common for established monasteries during the Second Bulgarian Empire, protecting notable monasteries like Rila, Hilandar, and Zograf.
Resilience and Significance
The monastery was not heavily damaged during the Ottoman invasion and became a hub of social life for Bulgarians from surrounding districts—Tsaribrod, Pirot, Breznik, Sofia, and Radomir. An annual large market took place by the monastery walls. In the 16th century, a monastic school was established here. However, between 1737 and 1739, Pirot Turks viewed the monastery’s annual gathering as competition to their emerging Pirot fair. They staged a conflict during one of the monastery’s feast days, resulting in the killing of a Turk, which led to a massacre. The holy site was set ablaze, and the Metropolitan of Sofia was slain, dying in “Vladishka Mountain.” The monastery was looted and destroyed, with remains of its foundations still visible today. The fire also consumed the monastery library, containing valuable Church Slavonic liturgical books and other documents.
Rebuilding Efforts
A few years later, Hilandar monks discovered a healing spring near the new monastery site and decided to relocate it. With local support, they built cells, utility buildings, and the current church. People from villages like Gigintsi, Begunovtsi, Noevtsi, Kosherovo, Selishten Dol, Gabrovo Dol, Berende, and Yardzhilovtsi contributed. Initially, they constructed cells and buildings for domestic and economic needs (bakery, granary, refectory). Later, under the initiative of two priest brothers from Begunovtsi, the present church was built. They took monastic vows as Hrisant and Ilarion and obtained permission to build the church on the foundations of an older temple near the holy spring from the first monastery. The church was completed in 1814 and had two construction phases. Initially, it was a single-space, single-apse, pseudo-triconch structure with a semi-cylindrical vault. Later, a semi-circular narthex was added to the west, expanding the original nave.
Architectural Heritage
According to André Grabar, the narthex was built around 1886. An inscription mentions that the monastery was constructed during the time of Karafeiz. The old church, over which the current Gigintsi Monastery is built, was likely a single-nave, single-apse, pseudo-triconch structure, similar to late medieval churches in the Gornostrum regions and Znepole.
Revival Period
During the Bulgarian National Revival, the monastery’s prestige grew. The Metropolitan of Sofia ordained priests for the entire district here, and the monastic school taught children from nearby villages faith, reading, and writing. The “Sts. Cosmas and Damian” monastery owned many properties from the time of Bulgarian tsars, donated by local landowners and purchased with pilgrims’ money. The fields were cultivated with the help of hired workers from neighboring villages. The monastery had several pairs of oxen, around a thousand sheep, its own dairy, an inn in the largest village, and a large apiary. During a drought year, the monks fed the inhabitants of three villages.
An inscription from 1814 mentions former kirdzhali chief and then ayan of Breznik, Kara Feizi. Late 19th-century frescoes are notable for their detailed depiction of local costumes.
Present Monastery Complex
The current complex includes a residential building and a monastic church. The residential building, arranged in an L-shape, is a two-story structure with wooden stairs and a verandah.
The church, built in the early 19th century, has two construction periods. Initially, it was a single-space, single-apse, pseudo-triconch structure with a semi-cylindrical vault. Later, a semi-circular narthex was added. The unique oval shape of the narthex is a distinctive Bulgarian feature, also found in the churches of Penkyovtsi and Konska.
Architectural and Artistic Significance
The monastic church is a declared architectural monument. The frescoes were painted three times, with the last painting in 1886 by iconographer Georgi Popaleksov in the so-called folk style. The church’s benefactors were Father Zdravko and Father Ignat from Begunovtsi. To obtain permission for the monastery’s restoration, they gifted Kara Feiz two fattened buffaloes with yokes and covers. Donations were collected from the surrounding population for the construction.
Contributions and Legacy
A notable benefactor of the Gigintsi Monastery was Aleksi Stefanov from Gigintsi, who significantly funded its establishment and the expansion of its properties. The church’s donor, grandfather Aleksa, is depicted in full height on the southern side of the church.
Outside the monastery, to the west, were the monastery’s sheepfolds, barns, and haylofts. During the Ottoman period, the monastery’s assets were substantial. As narrated by grandfather Aleksa Vitanov from Kosharovo (b. 1877), the monastery owned 1,200 decares of fields and meadows, 800 sheep with about ten shepherds and apprentices, 60 cattle, produced 1,500 crosses of wheat, and had its own dairy. Each year on the feast day (November 14th, old style)—”St. Healer”—a night market was held.
Modern Era
Today, the monastery is inhabited by monks and remains active, undergoing restoration and strengthening repairs. On May 8, 2011, a new church in the monastery dedicated to St. Silouan the Athonite was consecrated.
In 2014, the monastery celebrated the 200th anniversary of its restoration in 1814 following its destruction in 1737-1739. In November 2017, the Bulgarian Patriarch and Metropolitan of Sofia Neofit sent a letter to the monastery, recommending that services be conducted according to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church calendar. The monastic brotherhood accepted the decision, and since the end of 2017, the monastery’s holidays have been celebrated in line with all Orthodox Christians in Bulgaria.
