The Church

In spite of the fact that the monastery “Saint Peter and Paul” in the village of Batkun (Patalenica now) - the spiritual centre for the area is very close to Vetren dol, the inhabitants of Vetren dol had their own church.
We find out about this fact in a copy of the Evangelist, written by Angel from Patalenica and left in the village of Eli dere (Vetren dol). The copy dates back to 15 of March 1748. The oldest building in the village is the church. Above the gate there was a plate with a sign of the year of foundation and the name of the donators. In the area of Vetren dol there were 8 churches: “Sveta Nicola”, Sveti Helena”, Sveti Archangel Michael”, “Sveti George”, “Sveti Dimitar”, “Sveta Troica” and a church which was known as “Bochova cherkva” according to the legend. They were all destroyed. The only one left was the chapel “Saint George”, which was also destroyed and robbed in 1960-1975. It was recovered and reopened officially on the 25 May 1996 by the Plovdiv bishop Arsenii.
The church “Sveta Bogorodica” was expanded and rebuilt in 1849 and all the old signs on the walls were removed. It was made of stone. On the outside wall there were two marble plates of a Thracian horseman. All the icons in the church are donated. The icon of Sveti Vasilii was donated personally by Mito Damianov - the local hero. In 1928 the church suffered an earth quake. It was repaired by the priest Angel Shopnikolov, who spent 12 years of his life in Vetren dol. The present church is subordinated to the Plovdiv eparchy and to the Pazardjik vicarage. The present priest is Georgi Pashev.