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Bistritsa monastery "St. Yoakim and Anna"

The Bistritsa monastery "St. Yoakim and Anna" is located in the Mali dol country of the Vitosha mountain, about 2 km to the south-east of the village of Bistritsa.

The distance from the monastery to the center of Sofia is 18 km. Patron Saint's day on 9 September.

The monastery "St. Peter" which had existed on its present place in the IX—X century, was destroyed by the turks in the XIV century. Its foundations were discovered in 1925 and the present church was sancrified in 1950. During the period 1965-77 residential buildings were built.

At present the monastery functions regularly. It is a complex including a church, one-nef, one-apse, with a cupola and inner and outer narthex, residential and farm buildings. The church was built over a mound necropolis, and under the church nef there is a preserved ancient vault from the end of the IV - the beginning of the V century (3,35 x 2,99 x 2,28 m), to which a stone staircase from the narthex