Aladzha Monastery

Aladzha Monastery is a Bulgarian medieval rock monastery. It is located about 17 km from Varna, 3 km from Golden Sands and about 520 km from Sofia.

In Turkish, alaja means colorful, variegated. Aladzha monastery was established around the 11th-12th century, when the ascetics-monks began to settle there. However, its caves were inhabited as early as the early Byzantine era, and the first archaeological materials found there - coins and a few ceramic pieces - date from that time.

During the years of the Second Bulgarian State, under the influence of the hesychast movement, the rock monastery reached its greatest flowering. Life in the monastery died down in the beginning or middle of the Ottoman rule.