German monastery of St. Ivan Rilski belongs to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. It is located in Lozenskoy Valley, 5 kilometers from the village of German, and just 15 kilometers from Sofia. The German monastery is recognized as one of the oldest monasteries in Bulgaria it was founded under Peter in the X century, when only began to spread the veneration of Ivan Rilski.

As the story goes, in the Byzantine period monastery relied gifts from Alexis I Comnenus, Emperor. And in the period of Turkish rule the monastery was destroyed several times. Fully monastery was restored in the XVII century. Updating the monastery first in 1801 and then again in 1818, when the abbot Antipas added to another monastery complex construction - stone nave little church, embedded in the ground. In the same year, it was renewed housing construction. From the temple to have survived intact the crucifixion, the inscription on which pinpoints 1818 building. It is assumed that in the same year the church was consecrated updated.

Since 1870 to 1912 he was abbot Hadji Nicephorus and brother helped him, the monk Kirill. If they manage to monastic economy were not less than 150 hectares of meadows and cornfields, a water mill, as well as about 150 head of cattle and small ruminants.

Toward the end of the XIX century, after the country's liberation, the monastery was again updated. The old church was demolished and in its place the master of Slatina built a new one. The material they used hewn stone, which are complemented by three rows of decorative brick and outer corners decorated with smooth slabs of stone. The church was crowned with wooden dome, studded sheet. A little later, it was built ten-porch. The icons that adorn the old church, were later transferred to the Historical Museum of Sofia.

Interesting fact: in 1890 in the German monastery visited Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinand, who landed in front of the north gate of the church two sequoias that grow here so far.

The church and monastery buildings were restored again in the 1960s.