The Batchkovo monastery has been established in the year of 1083 by Grigorius Bakuriany, a national from Georgia, on payroll of the Byzantine empire. His wish has been for the monastery to never be run by a Greek. In the 17th century the monastery does prosper and it expands into its present outlook. Many of its wall paintings have been done by Zahary Zograph, well known bulgarian painter, around the year of 1840. Under the composition "The Last Judgement" he signed his name as "Zahary H. Zograph - Bulgarian"