Koprivshtitsa

Almost too idyllic to be real, Koprivshtitsa’s half-timbered houses lie in the Topolnica River valley amid wooded hills of Sredna Gora. Koprivshtitsa’s half-timbered houses lie in a valley amid wooded hills, makes a picturesque town in the heart of Sredna Gora Mountain, situated 110 km southeast away from Sofia and 80 km away northwest from Plovdiv. Koprivshtitsa keep more than 300 monuments of Bulgarian culture what make her the gentle story-teller of the beautiful tale of the Bulgarian Revival. Koprivshtitza is a unique place – every house here is a work of art: blue, yellow, red houses with verandas, bay windows and eaves, rooms decorated with wood carvings, lit up by brightly colored rugs and cushions, its cobblestone streets, winding between high white stone walls and gardens full of greenery. During the Ottoman rule Koprivshtitza was reduced to ashes several times, its inhabitants were frequently robbed and driven away. Enriched by the proceeds of the local wool industry, Koprivshtitsa’s 19th-century wealthy merchants employed Bulgaria’s best painters and woodcarvers to adorn their houses, turning the village into a focus of the cultural upsurge known as the National Revival. However, thanks to the bribes of those local traders, the village was spared from a torching by the Ottoman Bashibazouks during the April Rising of 1876, while all around it was burned. Thanks to the bribes of local traders, the village experienced some special privileges, thus keeping the Bulgarian traditions and atmosphere of the town intact. However many Koprivshtitza inhabitants dedicated their lifes for Bulgaria, among them are brother Lyuben i Petko Karavelov, Todor Kableshkov, Dimcho Debelyanov, Nincho Oslekov and others.

The Great Koprivshtitza Folklore Festival is Bulgaria’s largest gathering of traditional musicians and singers and makes an unique cross between a pop festival and a medieval fair. The National Fair of Bulgarian Folklore Art has been holding in the town of Koprivshtitza since 1965. Every fifth year in summer the region becomes a center of folklore celebrations. Ensembles from all ethnographic areas in Bulgaria take part in the festival. Concerts are played in the open near Koprivshtitza performing the unique Bulgarian singing and dancing on 8 stages. An interesting part of the celebrations is the review of authentic Bulgarian national costumes and exhibition of Old Bulgarian crafts. In the evening in the center of Koprivshtitza foreign folklore ensembles perform traditional Bulgarian folklore. The Holiday of Rose is one of the most remarkable festivals in Bulgaria, dedicated to Beauty as such, and to its components – the flowers, the spring and the fragrance of the rose of Kazanlak. It is a sight that knows no equal: thousands of musicians and singers making the hillside above the picturesque village of Koprivshtitza their home for a few days. Coupled with this you have the colorful stalls of the traders and the thousands of visitors who come for the festival. This is Bulgarian music as it was always played, played by the ancestors of those who first played it. But perhaps it is what happens on the periphery that is the most authentic. Strolling players or soloists, simply playing for the sheer enjoyment. forming new bonds with other musicians or just letting their music ring out over the hillside. Traditionally the Holiday of the Rose is taking place in the first weekend of June, and it includes a beauty contest for the Queen of Roses.