CULTURE AND HISTORY IN CENTRAL BULGARIA

BULGARIAN CULTURE AND ARCHITECTURE

Central Bulgaria nests some of the very unique cultural sites within the country. Etara – the only ethnographic open air museum as well as the Kazanlak Tomb hidden in the Rose Valley and proud member of UNESCO list.With thousands of years of history and ancient civilizations heritage – the area is very exciting for all those of you interested in ethnography, history, architecture, art and crafts. Just take a walk in some of the small cosy villages such as Oreshak, Tryavna or Bozhentsi – keeping the history alive and taking you back in time.

THE HOLY PLACES OF CENTRAL BULGARIA

Bulgaria has always been a cross-road between the 2 continents, a crossroad between religions. Exceptional discoveries have been made – proving the existence of Pagan cults performed in the area long before Christianity. As early as 865 Bulgaria becomes the first Slavic country to adopt the Christian religion and the first Christian country in Europe, in which the liturgical language is the language of the people – Old Bulgarian. Being part of the Ottoman Empire and just in the outskirts of the Great Constantinople the country is home of many Muslims. Today many mosques can be seen rising side-by-side with some of the most beautiful Orthodox Churches and monasteries – Troyan Monastery, Sokolski Monastery or Shipka Church – to name a few.

COMMUNIST MONUMENTS

In 1989, after the fall of the totalitarian regime in Bulgaria, many iconic communist era monuments were dismantled. Nevertheless, more than one hundred being built between 1945 and 1989 remain standing. The majority of these sites are not recognized by the state and for some, it is difficult to find information such as their authors or history.Impossible to miss and located in Central Bulgaria is Buzludzha – The House of the Bulgarian Communist Party, which rises on top of Buzludzha peak – where 15.000m3 of rocks had to be removed, to make a solid flat foundation area. This monument has an extraordinary architecture, enormous size and 510m2 artistic mosaics for which 35 tons of cobalt glass were used.