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The fate of the monastery "St. Nikolai" is closely connected with the history of the ancient settlement Gramade. According to a legend, the priest Philip Ivanov from Chelopech had a dream, in which St. Nicholas appeared to him and told him that he saw a monastery, "perched like a big white bird on the hill", destroyed by the Turks, and asked him to find the monastery.

The priest started excavations and soon found a strong wall of stone and mortar, and then discovered the remains of six cell skeletons. According to one of the opinions the skeletons are of people involved in the defense of the monastery and Gramade against the Turks. The village had given strong resistance against the Turks and was completely destroyed by them some 80 years after the fall of Turnovo in 1393. According to another opinion, based on the position of the skeletons (one in recovery, and the rest - in a sitting position) the buried are Slavs and a Bulgarian who lived at the time of the pagan temple on which later was built the medieval monastery. On this foundation was erected a new church.

The building of the new church started with the help of many people, but the credit was to a nun, Lyudmila, who came here after having had a dream. It is a long whip round, overcoming all obstacles and she managed to finish construction. Here, under a centuries-old oak tree in the courtyard, she found her eternal rest. The oak is over 500 years old and 25 meters high.

It is believed that the site of the monastery originally was a pagan temple existed and probably at the time of Tsar Peter there was built a Christian church. The monastery was destroyed several times and then restored. The last major renovation underwent in 1947.

Recently the monastery was re-painted. Thanks to various donors, it gained new icons.