Zemen monastery is located at the banks of the river Struma, almost 40 kilometres North of Kyustendil and Sofia is separated by 60 kilometers. The monastery was founded in the XI century, but nowadays the monastery is not valid. From the beginning of XX century it is a branch of the Bulgarian National historical Museum.

The only building that survived the occupation of Bulgaria by the Ottoman Empire, became the Church of St. John the Evangelist, who became the main attraction. All other buildings of the monastery complex were restored only towards the end of the nineteenth century. As a result of reconstruction, the appearance of the Church restorers were forced to change somewhat, however, at present this kind of architecture in the Balkans is not found. The Church is a structure in the form of a cube, which is crowned with three semi-cylindrical apse, are equal to each other in height. The roof is also implemented as chetyrehstennoy pyramid with a dome at the top.

The interior is rich with all sorts of frescoes, Dating back to XIV century. You can even see the image of Ivan Rilski, considered to be one of the first of its kind. Each fresco adorned with thoroughly detailed household stuff that allows you to make the assumption that the artists painted portraits from life.

One of the unique images was the image of the non-classical biblical scenes: Zemen artist to draw up the stage of creation of nails, which will be subsequently crucified Jesus. This scene is not found in the apocryphal literature, nor in the gospel texts and she has no analogues in religious painting.