Arbanasi

A merchant's house turned into an ethnographic museum about the lifestyle of Arbanasi's wealthiest during the village's peak. Originally built in the 17th century, and expanded a few times over the years. An example of the "fortress house" secular architecture of Arbanasi.

The most important and best preserved of the churches in Arbanasi. The original frescoes were completed in 1597. An additional narthex and a chapel to St. John the Forerunner were added later, complete by 1632. The church was a part of a complex that used to hold the seat of the metropolitan bishop of the large Veliko Tarnovo see.

In 1973, the frescoes were removed from the walls for "conservation", but due to improper storage some of them were lost. Only in 2012 they were restored thanks to EU funding.

Frescoes of the main church were completed in 1621. The church had survived intact until the end of the 19th century; large parts of it collapsed in a 1913 earthquake, necessitating structural rebuilds in the 1930s and 1970s which were combined with archaeological digs. The church contains a built-in chapel to St. George, but archaeological surveys showed that the chapel was originally a standalone building built in the mid-16th century, making it the oldest recorded temple in Arbanasi.

Surrounded by a large church yard that has served as Arbanasi's cemetery for centuries. ("Athanasius" means "immortal" in Greek.) The original frescoes of the main church were completed in 1667, the frescoes of the built-in chapel to St. Haralambos - in 1726.

The monastery church was built in the 1680s as a parish church of the village, and a chapel to the Holy Trinity was added to it no later than 1704. A monastery was (re)built around the church in the 1710s, and the church frescoes were repainted in 1762. The monastery was sacked in the end of the 18th century and rebuilt as a female monastery in 1836, including the bell tower/dome above the gate.

A chapel to St. Elijah was added to the St. Nicholas Church in 1716. The monastery was sacked by brigands at the end of the 18th century, and restored in 1833 as a female monastery. All monastery buildings but the church had to be rebuilt once again after the 1913 earthquake. The original vault and frescoes survive in the western part of the church, but the altar end was rebuilt and expanded in the 19th century, making St. Nicholas the only church in Arbanasi with a dome.