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MORE ABOUT MELNIK

The smallest and most romantic town in Bulgaria!

EVENTFUL AND TURBULENT HISTORY. Time has not consigned to oblivion the legends and facts about old Melnik. Archaeologists claim that the Thracians were the firs to settle in these parts. Later, the Romans passed through it and left a unique trace: the ancient Roman bridge preserved to this day. It is the Slavs, however, who are supposed to have first given the town its present name - Melnik, after the sand pyramids (mel) which envelop the town on all sides. It became a part of the Bulgarian state under Khan Pressiyan (836-852) and within a few centuries flourished greatly. In the early 13th century Melnik was the capital city of the independent domain of Lord Alexi Slav, an important and impregnable fortress and a brisk centre of arts and crafts, of building and trade. It continued to prosper under Tzar Ivan Assen (1218-1241). His charter for duty-free trade with the Dubrovnik merchants brought in together with exquisite goods and artisan skills also a culture imbued with modern humanism.Melnik became a centre where icon-painters, masters of ceramics, goldsmiths producing filigree works, and masons who built churches and houses thrived.
The vicissitudes of history often changed the rulers of this outlying part of the Bulgarian state. Under Byzantine domination Melnik became the place where claimants to the Byzantine throne were exiled. They arrived with their families and riches, built houses and supported the development of arts and trade.
The Ottoman conquest ushered in a period of several centuries of oblivion and decline. Yet Melnik again became famous. The spark of the Bulgarian National Revival (18th - 19th century) burst earlier into flame here than in other parts of the country. The town regained its past splendour. It again became a major cultural and commercial centre. In the late 17th century it emerged as a centre of church decoration and openwork woodcarving and some time later, as a centre of the fine mural painting. Many churches and Bulgarian schools were opened. Remarkable works of architecture were built; theatrical performance, quadrilles and waltzes began to be played in the parlours of eminent merchants, after Western fashions. Heavy caravans spread the fame of Melnik wines in the distant corners od Europe. It matured in deep cellars for several dozen years. It acquired thickness and flavour which made it much sought after in Salonica, Athens, Vienna, France, Spain and even in Britain. Several months after the Russo-Turkish War (1877 - 1878) the Berlin Treaty gave Melnik back to Turkey and the town lived through the Kresna Uprising (1878). The town gradually lost its sparkle, and during the Balkan war (1912 - 1913) which ultimately freed it, it suffered devastation by fire.
Today Melnik is an architectural reserve, a historical town, a monument of culture. From the previously rich and prosperous town now remain what is left of the fortress wall of Lord Slav, houses an wine cellars, churches and monasteries. Amidst the exotic charm of the natural decor, they remind one of a romantic tale of olden icons and carved wood, of splendid frescoes and architectural gems.
 
THE NATURAL SCENERY of Melnik is truly amazing. Impressive and austerely splendid, the Melnik pyramids rank among the most remarkable natural phenomena in Bulgaria. On the area of 17 sq. km (near Melnik, Rozhen i Kurlanovo) millennia-long erosion has chiseled this unusual world. Depending on the strength of your imagination, you could see in them obelisks, ancient towers, giant mushrooms... etc.  But the imagination of the Bulgarian master masons of the National Revival period inspired probably by the fascinating architectural style of the Melnik house.

THE CHARM OF THE MELNIK HOUSE
Its characteristic features are related to the geographic factor. The sheer screes and the limited terrain compelled people here to fight for every square foot of land. That is why the Melnik houses seem perched one above the other, so close as though they are whispering something to each other. Again, to cope with the slope, people here built the basement of stone at several levels where the thick wine matured. Above is the storey, towering gracefully, projecting and supported by many cantilevers. The white facades are framed with dark boards and the windows are grouped several together in  an elegant fashion. The interiors usually exhibit ceilings of carved wood, chimney-pieces, decorative cupboards of colour woods, murals and even stained glass. But apart from the generally typical features, every house here has an individuality of its own, its own history and life.

THE FEUDAL LORD'S or BYZANTINE HOUSE precedes the architecture of the Bulgarian National Revival by several centuries. In fact it is among the earliest civilian buildings in the Balkans and is described in Bulgarian and foreign specialist literature. As legend has it, the castle was built for Elena-Olena, a royal relative. The child was sent here to find a cure for a serious lung ailment.
The favourable air  here helped and she  recovered to marry the Russian Prince Igor. Archaeologists have found in the building elements typical of mediaeval Bulgarian construction and have listed it is a Bulgarian feudal fortress, probably built in the 12th - 13th centuries. Today only the Western and the Southern outer wall are preserved.

THE KORDOPOULOV HOUSE (1754) is a veritable gem of Bulgarian architecture of the National Revival, remarkably planned and executed. Its basement contains one of the largest wine cellars in the town equipped with special canals and ventilation.
And above, the house receives the day's light from all four corners of the world. Also there are decorative murals and stained Venetian glass, exquisite carved ceilings and sumptuous Baroque decoration.

THE PASHA'S HOUSE was built in 1815 on the orders of the richest Turkish bey in the  Seres and Melnik region, Ibrahim Bey. But it has reverberated to the steps of the Bulgarian revolutionary Yane Sandansky (1872-1915) who in 1912 proclaimed freedom to Melnik. The house is elegantly and impressively planned and executed with oriels and triangular surfaces on the roof. The wood-carved suns on the ceiling are the work of masters from the Debur school.

But the master-piece of the Debur school is the small internal icon stand in the church of the ROZHEN MONASTERY.  The architecture of the monastery, is very impressive. It is only 6 km from Melnik in an easterly direction and has existed since the Second Bulgarian Kingdom in the Middle Ages. The church in its yard, built in 1600, was renewed and painted in the 18th century. It contains a wealth of splendid stained glass, openwork wood carvings and old icons. Part of them, together with the wood-carvings from the icon stand were exhibited in the Charpentier gallery, Paris and in the Huegel villa in the town of Essen.

In Melnik one can also see the old churches St. Nicholas (13th century), St. Nikolai, the Miracle Worker (1756), St. Peter and Paul (1840), St. Anton. The Melnik Hotel (3 stars) is in the style of the Melnik National Revival period and offers all facilities of up-to-date tourist services. In the restaurant and the tavern guests can sample dishes of the Bulgarian national cuisine and the famous natural Melnik wines. Also available to tourists are several restored old houses. 

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Copyright © 1998 Martin Mitov