The Belashtitsa Monastery St George, built in 1020 is among the most ancient monasteries in Bulgaria. It was founded by the Byzantine army commander Nikifor, who captures and blinded thousands of Bulgarian soldiers in the battle near the village of Kliuch (Key). The monastery was burned down by the Turks many times. It was restored to its present appearance in the end of the 19th century. There is a holy spring with miraculous water next to the church. The spring, built in 1831, along with the yard, covered with white stones, give the monastery a special charm. The largest tree in Bulgaria grows near the monastery – a thousand-year-old plane-tree with a circumference of the trunk at chest height 13.7 meters. The tree is mentioned in the documents of the crusaders who passed marching here in the Middle Ages. There are three more centuries-old plane-trees next to the millenium-old one – one is seven hundred years old, with a circumference of 4.6 meters, and the other two – 500 years old and a circumference of 3.1 m.