Rila Monastery, Bulgaria (25/418)

The Convent of Rila, rebuilt between 1834 and 1860, incorporates the legacies of Saint Ivan of Rilski, 10th-century evangelist of the Slavs, and the remains of a medieval monastery into a distinctive neo- Byzantine monument. Characteristic of the Bulgarian Renaissance, this monument symbolises the awareness of a Slavic cultural identity following centuries of occupation.