Description of the attraction
The Varosha quarter in Blagoevgrad is a unique phenomenon that has survived to this day. The spirit of the Bulgarian Renaissance period awakens in this quarter. The very word "Varosha" in one of the many interpretations can be translated as "old town".
The Varosha quarter arose in the 17th century at the foot of the mountain. From the 17th to the 18th centuries, mainly Turks lived in the quarter, but from the 18th century Christians began to move here, the number of families did not exceed 200. At that time, the area was connected with the rest of the city by three bridges. On the other side of the ancient Blaevgrad, the Bystritsa River flowed, on one of the banks of which there was a Turkish bazaar.
During the Renaissance, the best minds and cultural figures of the region were concentrated in the Varosha quarter, united by the common idea of the revolutionary resistance of the Bulgarians to the Ottoman Empire.
One-story houses with tiny windows have become a unique phenomenon for the quarter.
The massive reconstruction of the quarter was started in the 1980s at the initiative of the municipality of Blagoevgrad. Most of the houses were in a dilapidated state. Today, only two buildings in the entire block are owned by businessmen, while the rest are in public use. The latter include galleries, workshops, art centers, literary houses and artists' studio houses. Thus, walking through the ancient quarter, you can learn national dances and songs, and then look at the work of real masters who have mastered traditional crafts.
In the old quarter there is the Church of the Virgin, included in the number of national monuments, as well as the house-museum of George Izmirliev, the main revolutionary during the April Uprising. Also on the territory of the quarter are the historical museum and the national park "Rila".
