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Its
houses reveal the remarkable urban culture of Bulgarian
builders, as well as their sense of harmony and their creative
power. The brilliant architecture with its noble, stylish
simplicity could be called rightfully the Baroque of Plovdiv.
The Bulgarian people have always been proud
that Old Plovdiv was restored and preserved as a large
open museum in order to stay for future generations. |
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Today
Old Plovdiv is an autonomous area within the modern
town with a municipality of its own.
It is declared an architectural museum reserve with over
150 monuments of culture - buildings from the National
Revival period.
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Its
magnificent houses are turned into museums, galleries,
workshops, restaurants, and pubs, such as "Puldin",
"Trakijski Stan”, "Alafrangite", "The
House of Ritora", and “The Old House". There
are also parlours and studios of painters and wood-carvers.
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The
most distinguished examples of the Baroque of Plovdiv
are the house of Koiumjioglu
(now an ethnographical museum),
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the
house of Balabanov (now a concert hall, as well as a gallery
of modern painting),
the
house of Georgiadi (now the Renaissance museum of the national
struggle),
the house of Nedkovich (the municipality), the house of Chomaka
(the gallery of the renowned Bulgarian painter Zlatyo Boyajiev),
the
house of Lamartin (the house of writers) where the French
poet Alfonse de Lamartin lived during his diplomatic mission
in Turkey... |
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The
famous painting "Old Plovdiv" by Tzanko Lavrenov
is probably the deepest revelation of the spirit, the excitement
and the atmosphere of that fateful Bulgarian Renaissance.
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