Stanimaka

Stanimaka lies at the northern entrance to the Rhodope Mountains, where a road runs south from the Thracian plain. Above it a fortress occupies a rocky ridge over the Asenitsa River; its two-storey church is dedicated to the Mother of God. Farther up the valley stands Bachkovo Monastery, founded in 1083 by the Byzantine commander Gregory Pakourianos and his brother.

Tsar Ivan Asen II strengthened the fortress in 1231, leaving an inscription on its walls. In 1344 the Stanimaka district and Bachkovo Monastery passed to Tsar Ivan Alexander in return for Bulgarian support during a Byzantine civil war. The tsar became a patron of the monastery and helped restore it; his portrait was painted in its ossuary. The fortress and monastery together guarded and served the road between the plain and the mountain interior.