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Huge cauldrons that were once used to feed pilgrims occupy the old kitchen ( magernitsa ) on the ground floor of the north wing, where the soot-encrusted ceiling has the shape and texture of a gigantic termites' nest. Beneath the modern east wing there's a wealth of objects in the treasury (daily 8am-5pm; US$1), including icons and medieval gospels, Rila's charter from Tsar Ivan Shishman, written on leather and sealed with gold in 1378, and the door of the original monastery church. Pride of place goes to the fourteen-inch-high wooden cross made by the monk Rafail during the 1790s. Composed of 140 biblical tableaux containing more than 1500 human figures (some no larger than a grain of rice), this took twelve years for Rafail to carve with a needle, and cost him his eyesight. Whether any other parts of the monastery are open to sightseers largely depends on the whim of the current abbot, who is keen to establish the monastery is a pilgrimage site rather than a theme park. Usually, you're free to walk along the wooden galleries surrounding the courtyard, but you may not be allowed to enter any of the chambers or chapels leading off them. Most likely of the latter to be open is the chapel of St John the Baptist , immediately above the west gate, on the first floor: unlike the main monastery church, it's a tiny, intimate space, stacked with the towels, packets of soap and bottles of sunflower oil which pilgrims traditionally bring to the monastery as donations. The towels, once they've been sanctified through contact with the monks' hands, are sold back to the public as mega-holy souvenirs.
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