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Bansko's old town begins a short way uphill on pl. Vazrazhdane , dominated by a large monument to an even more renowned son of Bansko, Otets (Father) Paisii, also known as Paisii of Hilendar (1722-73), author of the Slav-Bulgarian History . Begun in 1745, when Paisii became a monk at the Bulgarian monastery on Mount Athos, but not widely distributed until over fifty years later, this seminal work exalted the nation's past glories, kick-starting the upsurge in cultural and political consciousness that became known as the "National Revival". The growing confidence of Bulgaria's nineteenth-century elite was often expressed in the building of new churches - although the local Ottoman authorities didn't always grant permission without a bribe. The Church of Sveta Troitsa , on the south side of pl. Vazrazhdane, got the go-ahead after Bansko merchants paid off a local official to declare that a miraculous icon had been discovered on the site (which qualified it as "holy ground" suitable for a Christian place of worship). A wall was then raised to conceal the townsfolks' enlargement of the church beyond the size set by Ottoman clerks - for which the mayor of Bansko was jailed for five years. The resulting structure is one of the largest in Bulgaria outside Sofia; a huge lump of grey-brown stone whose appearance is softened by the addition of a delicate wooden porch around the main doorway. Icons of local origin pack the spacious interior, where an intricately latticed screen partitions off the rear of the nave where women were once obliged to pray in segregation. Bansko's grannies, many of whom dress in traditional stripey aprons for the occasion, still regard attendance at the 9am Sunday service as de rigueur , converging on the town centre as the church's belfry rings out an impressive peal of bells. Approaching and leaving the church through the walled enclosure you'll pass a monument remembering Peyu Yavorov, the poet guerilla leader who celebrated Bansko's liberation from the Turks in October 1912 by proclaiming "Throw away your fezzes, brothers! From today you are free Bulgarians"
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