Zemen Monastery is located at the banks of the river Struma, nearly 40 kilometers north of Kyustendil and Sofia is separated by 60 kilometers. The monastery was founded in the XI century, but at the moment the monastery is not valid. Since the beginning of the XX century it is a branch of the Bulgarian National Museum of History.

The only building that survived the occupation of Bulgaria by the Ottoman Empire, was the Church of St. John the Theologian, which became the main attraction. All the other buildings of the monastery complex have been restored only towards the end of XIX century. As a result of reconstruction, the appearance of the church restorers were forced to change somewhat, however, today this kind of architecture in the Balkans is not found. The church is a building in the shape of a cube, which is crowned with three semi-cylindrical apses, equal to each other in height. The roof is implemented as chetyrehstennaya pyramid with a dome at the top.

The interior is rich in all kinds of frescoes, dated XIV century. You can even see a picture of Ivan Rilski, is considered one of the first of its kind. Each is decorated with a fresco thoroughly detailed household minutiae that can make the assumption that artists painted portraits from life.

One of the unique images of the image was non-classical biblical scenes: Zemen artist draw the scene coined the creation of nails, which will subsequently be crucified Jesus. This scene is not found in the apocryphal literature, nor in the Gospel texts and has no analogues in the religious painting.