Rila Monastery is one of the most important and the largest monastery in Bulgaria, located on the slopes of Rila Mountain. The monastery was established in the 10th century . It is located near the cave, where the hermit Ivan of Rila spent most of his life. During the Ottoman rule, the monastery preserved Bulgarian traditions and language, orthodox religion. The most important in the complex are t he Church of the Nativity of the Virgin with its miraculous icon of the Virgin and splendid gilded iconostasis, the Monastery kitchen, the Monastery Museum keeping the long and heroic history of the monastery, the beautiful wood-carved cross, created for a period of twelve years by a monk called Rafael, Hrelyu's Tower.