It is traditionally thought that the monastery was founded by the hermit
Saint Ivan of Rila, whose name it bears, during the rule of
Tsar Peter I (r. 927–968). The hermit actually lived in a cave without any material possessions not far from the monastery's location, while the complex was built by his students, who came to the mountains to receive their education. Ever since its creation, Rila Monastery has been supported and respected by the Bulgarian rulers. Large donations were made by almost every tsar of the
Second Bulgarian Empire until the
Ottoman Conquest, making the monastery a cultural and spiritual centre of Bulgarian national consciousness that reached its apogee from the 12th to the 14th centuries. Rila Monastery was re-erected at its present place by
Hrelja, a
feudal lord, during the first half of the 14th century. The oldest buildings in the complex date from this period — the
Tower of Hrelja (1334–1335) and a small church just next to it (1343). The bishop's throne and the richly engraved gates of the monastery also belong to the time. However, the arrival of the
Ottomans at the end of the 14th century was followed by numerous raids and a destruction of the monastery in the middle of the 15th century. Thanks to donations by the Sultana Mara Branković, the
Russian Orthodox Church and the
Rossikon monastery of
Mount Athos, Rila Monastery was rebuilt at the end of the 15th century by three brothers from the region of
Dupnica. With Sultana
Mara Branković's influence, Ivan of Rila's relics were moved from
Tarnovo into the new complex in 1469. The complex acted as a depository of
Bulgarian language and
culture in the ages of foreign rule. During the time of the
Bulgarian National Revival (18th and 19th centuries), it was destroyed by fire in 1833 and then reconstructed between 1834 and 1862 with the help of wealthy
Bulgarians from the whole country, under the architect
Alexi Rilets. The erection of the residential buildings began in 1816, while a belfry was added to the Tower of Hrelyu in 1844.
Neofit Rilski founded a school in the monastery during the period. The monastery is known as being one of the hideouts of Bulgarian revolutionaries such as Vassil Levski, Gotse Delchev, and Peyo Yavorov. The monastery complex, regarded as one of the foremost masterpieces of Bulgarian National Revival architecture, was declared a national historical monument in 1976 and became a
UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. Since 1991 it has been entirely subordinate to the
Holy Synod of the
Bulgarian Orthodox Church. On 25 May 2002,
Pope John Paul II visited Rila Monastery during his pilgrimage to Bulgaria. He was greeted by the monastery's
igumen, Bishop Ioan, who had been an observer at the
Second Vatican Council. == Architecture ==