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Byala Cherkva Monastery "St. St. Peter and Pavel"

The Byala cherkva monastery is located in Byala cherkva resort area in the Byala cherkva elevation of the Chernatitsa ridge in the Western Rhodopes. This is the monastery with the highest location above the sea level in Bulgaria. It is about 25 km to the south-west of Plovdiv, Kuklen municipality. It was founded in the 11th century and is dedicated to St. St. Kozma and Damyan. It was destroyed by the Turks at the time of the conversion of the Bulgarian population in Chepino to Mohammedanism in the 17th century. It was restored in 1883 and given its present name - "St. St. Peter and Pavel". In the winter of 2002 the residential buildings were swept away by a conflagration.

At present the monastery operates regularly. It is a complex including a church, residential and farm buildings. The church is one-nef, one-apse, cross-like, without a cupola and with two conchas and is built on the foundations of the old church, part of whose apse is still preserved. The church is made of the white broken stone, giving the name of the surrounding area - Byala cherkva {White church}. The monastery is declared a monument of culture.

The monastery is connected to Assenovgrad (42 km) by a third class road to the north-east.