Bansko is a ski resort town on a high plateau between three mountain ranges: Pirin, Rila, and the Rhodope.
St. Paisiy Hildendarski (Saint Paisius of Hilendar), born in Bansko in 1722, was a key Bulgarian National Revival figure who wrote the first complete history of Bulgaria (the Slavo-Bulgarian history), written in the Hilendar Monastery in Mt. Athos, Greece. A chapel there is now called St. Ivan Rilski.
The Church of the Holy Trinity ("Sveta Troitsa") was built during the Ottoman rule. Its bell tower was added sixty years later.
The house-museum, birthplace of Neofit Rilski (born Nikola Poppetrov Benin), who wrote the first grammar book of the modern Bulgarian lanuage, a Greek-Slavic dictionery, and the first popular translation of the New Testament into Modern Bulgarian.
Museum Velyan House, the house-museum of local icon and fresco painter Ognian Velev.
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Last modified 18 September 2025