Guide TRAKIA-TOURS - page 14

The ancient theatre is one of the principal public buildings of the ancient Philippopolis. In addition to being a cultural centre, it also played an important role in the public and political life of the city and of the Roman province Thracia. Its construction is dated to the beginning of the 2nd century, at the time of Emperor Traianus. This dates the building to the time of the most intensive theatre construction in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. The layout of the theatre reveals certain specificities that prove that it had been used not only for theatre performances, but that it ... more

The earliest mosaics date back to the 2nd century, but the 4th-5th century mosaics are the most numerous. Roman mosaics decorated the representative public buildings and the rich homes of the ancient city Philippopolis. The mosaics of the Roman bath below the Balkan Home in Knyaz Alexander I Battenberg Street and the mosaics in the big hall of the Bishop's residence, revealed in the central underground pedestrian passage on Knyaginya Maria-Louisa Blvd. evoke particular interest. Some of the mosaic panels are kept at the Plovdiv Archaeological Museum.The floor decoration of an aristocratic home ... more

The Thracians became famous in the ancient world with their faith that death was merely the beginning of immortality. In view of the importance attached to immortality, it was only too natural for a person's last abode - the tomb - to be an example of splendour. It was perceived as a synthesised image of the world beyond, and its threshold marked the encounter of the two worlds: the one here and the world beyond. The next important step in the sophisticated burial ritual was the piling of a mound of earth over the tomb. The impressive tumular embankment kept alive the memory of the deceased pe ... more

The churches from the National Revival period in Plovdiv are not merely remarkable monuments of Bulgarian church construction with unique icons and frescoes by great icon-painters, with iconostases made by woodcarvers with divine talent. They are also immortal testimonies of the ability of different social classes to unite their efforts in the name of the common striving towards light and spiritual salvation. They were all built with the generous donations of wealthy families and with the selfless contribution of the entire Christian community.That was the way in which the churches of St. Mari ... more

After the end of the 17th century, Plovdiv marked the beginning of its steady development as a major economic centre in the Ottoman Empire and around the mid-19th century it became the biggest city in the Bulgarian hinterland. The higher economic potential of the population led to the appearance of a new type of urban dwelling: the "Plovdiv city house". In the course of its development in the 18th and 19th centuries, it was characterised by two principal types: asymmetrical and symmetrical.The oldest preserved examples of Plovdiv houses are dated to the middle and to the end of the 18th centur ... more

The Klianti house is one of the oldest houses in the Old Plovdiv Architectural and Historical Reserve that have survived to our times since the National Revival period. Located at 16, Knyaz Tseretelev Street, opposite the Lamartine House, it is characterised as one of the landmarks for the architectural development of the Plovdiv urban house. It is remarkable for its original plan and spatial composition, and for the high artistic qualities of its interior decoration. It has been proclaimed architectural and artistic monument of culture of national significance in 1995.The Klianti house remain ... more

The appearance of the symmetrical house in Plovdiv is dated to the 1830s. Remarkable monuments from that period are the homes of Kouyoumdjioglou and Georgiadi that were built in the 1846-1848 period by the famous master-builder from the Rhodope region, Hadji Georgi Georgiev. Other typical symmetrical buildings in Plovdiv are the homes of Georgi Mavridi (the Lamartine House), Dr. Stoyan Chomakov, Dr. Dimiter Birdas, and others.The most salient manifestation of the aristocratism of the symmetrical style can be seen in the splendid Kouyoumdjiev house, currently the Ethnographic Museum. Specialist ... more

The symmetrical house of Plovdiv is a variant of the houses I from the National Revival period, which was widespread throughout Thrace, but was preserved above all along the slopes of Trimontium. It is characterised with a symmetrical plan comprising four rooms on each floor of the building, around a large living room - hayet. All rooms and living rooms are with ceilings richly decorated with woodcarving, the walls are with painted geometric ornaments, often also with panels with realistic or fantastic landscapes. The decorative alafranga niches, also with painted decoration, are charming. The ... more

The roof with the dome of the Orthodox church of St. Kyriaki [St. Nedelya] is seen to the right of the cobblestone-paved Tsanko Lavrenov Street leading to the heights of Trimontium. The holy martyr Kyriaki [known with her Bulgarian name Nedelya] devoted her life to Christ and accepted death in the name of the Son of God, and she is directly linked with Bulgarian history. The Bulgarian kings of the Assen dynasty (12th-13th century) brought the holy relics of the maiden slain with a sword to the capital of the Bulgarian state Veliko Turnovo, and the Bulgarian Patriarch Euthymius wrote a eulogy t ... more

The house of Nikola Nedkovich was built in 1863 in the spirit of European Classicism. Foreign specialists researching the Bulgarian architecture from the National Revival period find a resemblance between the building and the Italian Renaissance palazzo.The facade is richly decorated and it impresses with a solemn four-column portico. The columns are made of stone, with capitals and supporting semi-circular arcs. The middle rhizolith ends with an elegant triangular pediment recurring on a smaller scale over every window. The house combines in an original way the ideas of aesthetics and conveni ... more