Corridor: Diagonal Road, Eastern Trans-Balkan Road
Country: Bulgaria, Assenovgrad
Type: Christian religious centre, Intangible Heritage
Epoch: Middle Ages
Theme: Christian Monasteries, Intangible Heritage
World Heritage:

Krastova gora (Cross peak) is a sacred Christian site in the Middle Rhodope. The stream of pilgrims has never stopped, even during times of unrest and persecution. The worship to that place is related to numerous legends, the common amongst them being the belief that on that site a monastery was existing. A piece of wood from Jesus Christ Cross was brought from Istanbul to that monastery in ancient times.
Undoubtedly, on this Rhodope peak there was a monastery existing, destroyed in the 17th c. Evidence of that are the discovered (under and above the ground) remains of walls, processed stones, the foundations of the ancient church, stones with traces of candles on them and travertine crosses.
In the 20th c. a new monastery was built on the site, while in 1936, tsar Boris III erected a high iron cross in the eastern part of the peak.
Thousands of pilgrims stream to Krastowa gora with the hope to take with from the miraculous energy of this sacred place, to get healed from their sufferings and pains by the spring; they believe God will hear their sacred prayers. 

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