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They are full of life and beauty!
It would be difficult to imagine Bulgaria of National Revival times until you’ve seen them. The architectural ensembles created by the native genius are an expression of the spiritual strivings of the Bulgarian….Narrow cobbled lanes, flanked by stone walls, hiding colourful yards with murmuring fountains and lovely houses which have gathered the w
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Bansko is situated in the foothills of proud Vihren Peak where the edelweiss grows and wild goats roam. This is the start of the largest protected territory in Bulgaria, included in the UNESCO List of World Heritage. Today’s town has a clearly marked National Revival centre with some 150 preserved houses and cultic buildings. A 30 – metre belfry and clock tower, which measures the time of history,
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"Etar" is an ethnographic museum park located near the town of Gabrovo. The lifestyle and old Gabrovo crafts from the Bulgarian National Revival period (18th – 19th century) have been brought back to life here. The teacher Lazar Donkov collected rich documentary material, chose the place and embarked on its construction in the 1960s. Two – storey buildings, the exact replicas of the homes of the o
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Anyone who has seen this secret and spellbinding place has become its voluntary captive. Nestling in the hills of the southwestern Rhodopes, the village appears unexpectedly behind a bend in the winding road. The strings of swallows perched on the live wires, the goats on the fences, the glow – worms in the summer evenings recall a distant and lost world. In spring the entire village turns white w
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One of Bulgaria’s smallest towns is located in the southwestern part of the Pirin Mountain, amidst a natural fortress of majestic sandstone formations. It recorded its name in Bulgarian history before the 11th century, and from 1205 to 1229 it was the centre of the feudal estate of despot Alexi Slav who defied the central authorities. In the 12th century it became part of the Byzantine Empire, was
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Picturesquely situated on hills, which rise unexpectedly in the Thracian plain along the quietly flowing waters of the Maritsa River. More ancient than Bulgaria itself, the city preserves the eternal values of its six – millennia – long history like a huge pantheon. For centuries the ancient Thracians were proud over their Evmolpia, but were unable to withstand the conquering power of Philip II of
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Situated on a rocky peninsula jutting deeply into the Black Sea and surrounded by small islands. The passage of time has obliterated much and only archaeological excavations and written sources testify to the existence of Thracian settlers and of ancient Apollonia.
In 610 BC Greek settlers from Miletus founded a rich city state with its own army and fleet. Red and black figural vases, coloured
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Picturesquely situated on three hills in the heart of the Balkan Range, for 800 years now Veliko Tarnovo has been mirroring its regal face in the waters of the meandering Yantra River. The city’s biography is the history of the capital of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom (1185 - 1393) Twenty – two kings ruled here and forged the destinies of Bulgaria.
On Tsarevets Hill, a natural inaccessible fortr
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The village of Arbanassi is situated in a sunny mountainous area, 4 km from Veliko Tarnovo. In 1838 Sultan Suleiman II gave the village to his son – in – law as a present, thus freeing its inhabitants of ruinous taxes and the central government. This enabled them to engage in profitable crafts and trade. Their surviving homes are a witness of their prosperity. The Arbanasi houses, which resemble m
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A sun – lit valley, nestling in the folds of the Balkan Range, shelters the small village of Bozhentsi. Some hundred silent houses gleam white on the broken terrain. The past of the village is shrouded in legends. When the capital of the Bulgarian Kingdom was subjected to Ottoman rule in 1393, many Bulgarians escaped into the mountains. The noble woman Bozhana stopped here with her children, givin
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The town of Koprivshtitsa is sheltered in the folds of the Sredna Gora Mountains at an altitude of 1060 m, on the banks of the Topolnitsa River. One of the unique Bulgarian towns, having preserved the original architectural heritage from the Bulgarian National Revival period. Emerging in the late 14th century, thanks to the natural factors the town developed as a stockbreeding and trade centre. Ko
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This place, baring the authentic spirit of the past, is quietly set in the very western highlands of the Rhodope Mountains overlooking to the Pirin Mountain, too. Leshten is a pretty, picturesque and romantic village situated some 200km to the south of Sofia and just several kilometers away from the town of Gotse Delchev in the northeast direction.
The village is an architectural and ethnograph
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On a rocky peninsula, linked with the mainland by a narrow isthmus, the natural elements and human fantasy have shaped a town, which rises from the waves like a mirage. Throughout 3000 years different civilizations have left the marks of their history here. The town’s old name – Messambria – evidences its Thracian origin. Greek migrants settled here permanently in the 6th century BC, creating a bu
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The first inhabitants of the village roamed for a long time until finally finding and settling on this sunny slope in the Rhodope Mountains. The Rhodope architecture of the 19th century, influenced by the mountain landscape, differs markedly from that in other places. For dozens of years many of the locals worked as builders in the Aegean in winter. Due to lack of space, the houses grew in height.
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The small town of Tryavna is picturesquely situated on both banks of a bubbly river in the northern slopes of the Balkan Range. The healthy climate and favourable location attracted permanent settlers to the area in the 12th century. Tryavna’s streets, its vaulted stone bridges, houses, churches and square with the clock tower preserve the spirit and talent of the artists of the Tryavna School of
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Enveloped in unusual tranquillity, the village of Zheravna is located in a green valley amidst the wooded slopes of the eastern Balkan Range. Emerging in the beginning of Ottoman rule, it gained the status and prerogatives of a soldier’s village. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, the livelihood of the local population – sheep breeding and handicrafts – was highly profitable. This reflected on
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