The Kilifarevo Monastery "Saint Dimiter" is situated in a valley at a distance of 5 km from Kilifarevo, Veliko Turnovo District. At the time of Ivan Alexander around 1348 Teodosii Turnovski builds a big monastery over a high hill. The archaeological excavations reveal remains of this ancient sacred place, which has been a spiritual centre of medieval Bulgaria during the second half of XIV c. The main merit for the boom of the old monastery belongs to Teodosii Turnovski. He comes from a noble boyar's kin close to the king. Devoting his life to good deeds and piety he travels round the Bulgarian monasteries. He spends some time at Paroria, where he meets the great Byzantine theologian Grigorius Sanait - one of the ideologists of the isihasm in Byzantine. Teodosii Turnovski is accepted at the Parorian monastery and becomes a deeply convinced isihast. After the death of Grigorii Sanait he travels round the Bulgarian monasteries and after long wandering he settles near the village of Kilifarevo. The monastery there is built with the help of the king. It grows fast and becomes famous among the Balkan Orthodox people. Here is concentrated the book school of the capital. The great literary man and future Bulgarian patriarch Evtimii has also studied in this monastery. After the fall of Bulgaria under the Ottoman yoke the monastery is burned down by the Turks. In 1718 at the foot of the hill is rebuilt the present-day monastery. However, during the Kardzhali outrages at the end of XVIII c. and the beginning of XIX c. the church sustains serious damages in the western part. At the renovations the builder sticks a new building to the old one. The new church is considerably more spacious. Its internal space is in the form of a cross. The housing and farming buildings are arranged in a chain to the south of the church forming a rainbow spreading to the river.

Most interesting are the mural paintings from 1718. The Kilifarevo Monastery possesses some precious icons made by the Tryavna icon-painters Ionko Popvitanov and Dosyo Koyuv, as well as the famous icon of Joan Rilski with scenes from his life, painted by Krustyo Zahariev.