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Koprivstitsa sits in
a high valley of the Sredna Gora mountains, stretching along both
sides of Topolka River. This is an authentic Bulgarian Renaissance
town. Here in Koprivshtitsa, the thread of tradition and glorious
past remains unbroken. The town boasts an impressive 388 architectural
monuments from the period of the renaissance (15 of national significance)
and six museums. Declared a museum-town in 1952, Koprivshtitsa
was added as a historical preserve in 1971 and was recognized as
a national architectural preserve of international standing in 1978. More than 380 of the town's houses date from the National Revival era, the most elaborate from 1842 to 1870, when the symmetrical Plovdiv style took hold.
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Not the oldest town in Bulgaria, Koprivshtitsa's documented history is limited to the late 1700's, although the town was probably founded in the 1300's by boylars and other refugees running from the invading Turks. By the end of the 18th century, Koprivshtitsa had grown to a populous and wealthy town with large herds of livestock. Considerable revenue was produced by the associated trade of animals and their products. A prosperous trading center with close ties to Venice, in Plovdiv it was referred to as "little Istanbul". |
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Koprivshtitsa's wealthy inhabitants would compete in erecting costly and pretty houses, with almost no repetition; a testimony to the free spirit and culture of the locals. Many of the historic houses once inhabited by Ottoman landowners are now open to visitors. There are six house-museums open to the public and we suggest you first visit the stone "Apriltsi Mausoleum" , inscribed "Let us guard the national liberty for which the heroes of the rising of 1876 fell." The town of Koprivshtitsa has preserved the traits of the whole cycle of renaissance architecture, and thereby illustrates the creative search of the Bulgarian master-builders of old, the apex of which is the symmetrical composition of the houses in Old Town Plovdiv.
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Koprivshtitsa's motto, from the emblem
of the town shown at the right is "Patriotism,
Honesty, Courage". As you tour this town,
remember that its gates and gateways reflect the rough social reality
and the people's hard and insecure life, for it was here that the
first shot of the April Rising was fired in 1876 and aroused sympathy
all over Europe. This resulted in the Russo-Turkish War of
1877-1878, ending the 500 year-long Turkish yoke over Bulgaria.
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