Kotel - The Privileged Soldiers Village

The town of Kotel is situated in a small valley in one of the passes of the Balkan Range linking North and South Bulgaria. This is also why its statute during Ottoman domination was that of a "privileged soldiers village", exempt from state taxes. This enabled its inhabitants to acquire wealth as merchants and craftsmen, and to feel spiritually and politically free to a large extent. In 1765 Paissii of Hilendar, the author of the First Bulgarian History - Slaviano-Bulgarian History - gave the manuscript to Kotel clergyman Priest Stoiko, the future bishop Sophronius of Vratsa, who was responsible for the History's first copy. Kotel's inhabitants were also the first to mark the Day of the Founders of the Slavianian Script, the brothers Cyril and Methodius, on May 24, 1860 - an official holiday today.

In the 19th century Kotel already boasted four secular schools. The school in the Galata quarter is now a Museum of the Bulgarian National Revival. A large part of the exhibition is dedicated to local Georgi Stoikov Rakovski - one of the outstanding ideologues and figures of the Bulgarian national liberation movement.

Kotel's National Revival period houses are of the "wooden type" seen frequently in the Eastern Balkan Range. The only difference was that in Kotel they were higher - up to 3-4 stories, the ground floors housing shops and workshops, rather than the usual household premises. The originally open verandas is lost in later times, making the houses akin to closed urban homes - with spacious central salons and a wealth of decorative elements.

A devastating fire in 1894 wiped out nearly the entire town of which only two quarters - Galata and Durlyanka survived.

Although but a few, the preserved architectural examples provide a good idea of the town's former appearance. Just take a look at the Kyorpeev House, now an Ethnographic Museum, the Kosichkov, Pisomov, Burnev, Bairumov and Karaivanov houses, the old water mill and the inn. The yards are dotted with geraniums and carnations.

The locals still weave their famous Kotel carpets, and many of their children study at the town's secondary music school for national instruments and folk singing.

Jeravna - The Village Coming from The Past

The village of Jeravna resembles a wreath spread over the southern slopes of two small hills in the Eastern Balkan Range.

Brooks run softly down its steep lanes. The village house with their broad eaves peak out behind high stonewalls. The majority are well preserved. All are modeled on the "wooden type" house prevalent in the entire region of the Eastern Balkan Range. A characteristic feature is that all Jeravna houses, without exception, face south - with extensive facades in the yard's northern part, far from the street when it passes south of them, and houses turned the other way, but close to the street if it runs to the north.

The older houses have single storey and made entirely out of wood. Later houses, with two stories, have their ground floor built of stone. The facades have clearly horizontal lines, emphasized by the forward brought second floor and the strongly jutting out eaves. They are entirely surrounded by verandas, leading to the living quarters, with the storerooms and hiding places behind them.

Rosettes, star-shaped figures, stylized plant and animal motifs decorate the cupboards, shelves, walls, ceilings and doors. Winding staircases, chapels, colorful rugs and cushions lend a still greater fascination to the Jeravna house.

Do not miss seeing the houses of Sava Filaretov (1851), Hadji Draganov (1851), Haltukov (1818), Todor Ikonomov (first half of the 19th c.), Roussi Chorbadji (18th-19th c.) and Matei Gendov (second half of the 19th c.), as well as the native museum house of the great writer and playwright of the start of the century Yordan Yovkov (late 18th c.). The large rooms in the Sava Filaretov, Roussi Chorbadji and Haltukov houses are exceptional achievements as regards the interior design of the Bulgarian "wooden type" National Revival period house.

The sofa frames are richly carved, fretwork shelves hang above friezes of rosettes, and applique geometrical forms of different colored wood cover the cupboards and window shutters.

Colorful rugs and carpets, curtains, painted chests, tin-plated dishes, ceramics, carved tables and tripods emanate the warmth of generations of Bulgarians taking pride in turning their home into a world of peace, cosines and beauty.

Kotel and Jeravna, 14 km away from each other, are villages close in spirit and lifestyle - two mutually supplementing truths of a period of time.

The Magic of Etura

Etura is an ethnographic museum park below the open skies, located on the outskirts of the mountain town of Gabrovo. Its 18th-19th century crafts and lifestyle come alive before the eyes of visitors.

Etura was established during the 1960s when people woke up to the fact that the National revival arts and crafts were on the verge of disappearing. Lazar Donkov from Gabrovo was the man who collected rich documentary material, while also discovering a suitable location in a wooded area near the town with a water mill and a fuelling mill run by water diverted from the nearby river. Various other workshops were quick to spring up - for lathe-turned wooden vessels, for knives, braiding and painted carts, along with a sawmill. All are powered by water and the workshops themselves were modeled on concrete prototypes.

The mechanisms mounted in them are quite authentic - Lazar Donkov gathered them throughout the Gabrovo area.

The workshops and shops located on the opposite left bank make up the so-called arts and crafts street. The two-store houses are exact copies of the 'houses of famous old masters, with shops and workshops on the ground floor, and the living quarters above them. In this case, too, the various mechanisms, the arrangement of the workshops and the manual tools are completely authentic.

The shops sell pottery, leather items, gold, silver and copper articles, old Bulgarian music instruments, etc. The delicious sweets and pastries of old times have not been forgotten either, and the old cafe is open to visitors, The multitude of color, sound and fragrances of Etura is bound to provide you with an exciting and memorable experience.