It is a well-known fact that once the Bulgarians have bettered their position and self-confidence, they build houses of their own. During the National Revival period the Haskovo notables were also prompt enough to start building very nice two-storey houses, “whitewashed on the outside” as Ivan Bogorov describes them. The skilful hands of the craftsmen have created and perfected bow-windows, eaves, cornices, chimneys, windows, columns, railings, doors, built-in cupboards, ceilings and French-style ornaments. They combine local traditions and architectural borrowings and influence from other towns, and even from other countries. The fretwork on the ceilings and the numerous windows were indicative of prosperity.
The main elements of the furniture are the shelf, the trunk, the cupboard and the couch. Born from the higher aesthetic requirements and increased financial resources of the owners and by the new vision of the masters, the houses glow with blinding beauty.
Chorbadji Paskal’s House Built in the mid-19th c. by the wealthy Haskovo tradesman Chorbadji Paskal, father of the famous book-publisher of the 1920s–1930s, Alexander Paskalev. Two-storey, asymmetrical. Indicative of the living standards of the wealthy Haskovo families in the post-Liberation period.
We see a genuine masterpiece of architecture – with the unusual round kiosk on the top floor, the wonderful planning of the rooms, the beautiful fretwork of the ceilings. The museum exposition arranged there by the Haskovo Regional Museum of History displays treasures from the Haskovo citizens’ style of living after the Liberation. They constitute an amazing mixture of objects from the life in the village, the city and Europe.
The first floor impresses with the kitchen: with a hearth and built-in cupboard next to it, a couch, some shelves and in the middle a sinia – a small copper table where the family used to eat. Only in the rich people’s houses the sinias were copper – otherwise they were wooden. We can also see a copper baking dish, some pots, a coffee grinder, a copper jug, etc.
Next to the kitchen is the dining room. The traditional Bulgarian textile elements – carpets, curtains, tablecloth are combined with the porcelain plates imported from Europe, put on the table and the shelf.
The living room where the family members used to spend big part of the day engaged in various activities is the most used room. It overlooks the house’s entrance and the street. Next to the carder and the spinning wheel stand an iron and an imported sewing machine.
The spacious salon occupies a central place on the top floor. It amazes with the round kiosk in the bottom and the impressing ceiling fretwork.
The parlor is situated to the salon’s right and is separated from it by a wall with internal windows. Strange is the feeling they evoke – a mix of curiosity, aesthetic delight, safety and surprise. The wooden couches coexist with imported Vienna furniture. Next to the silver kitchen set we can see a Russian samovar, as well as the lithographs of Khan Krum, Tsar Simeon, Stefan Karadja and Hadji Dimiter and of course of the family’s pillar. Like the rest of the rooms in the house this one too is covered with Haskovo carpets and rugs. They are beautiful for their different-colored stripes in which Haskovo women have interwoven their fine sense for beauty and aesthetics.
The women’s room where the young lady of the house used to invite her girlfriends, to the salon’s left is also very original. A table, covered with a hand-embroidered tablecloth, an old album of 1890, a liquor set, lamps, a mirror with lady’s accessories, fashionable in that period.
The bedroom is furnished according to the respective fashion trends. The iron bed is covered with a silk-laced coverlet; next to it stand a porcelain basin and a jug, as well as a dressing table with a mirror.
The closet is filled with trunks. The clothes of the family were kept there as well as the girls’ dowries.
Its sparkling white beauty dates from the mid-19th century too. Symmetrical, two-storey, with a protruding rectangular kiosk, sustained by three wooden columns. The facades, each one with three bay-windows, are extraordinarily beautiful.
The Kirkov School
This one-storey symmetrical building dates from 1882. It impresses with the rich murals and plastic ornaments on the main facade and the internal spaces. The four-column portico and the staircase railing add special solemnity to the building.
Gurko’s House
is forever linked with the historic memory of Bulgaria’s Liberation. When the people of Haskovo – suffering but happy, welcomed the famous Russian General Gurko they lodged him in one of their most beautiful houses. Two-storey, asymmetrical, with a balcony, today this house proudly bears the name of Gurko – as a symbol of the love and gratefulness of today’s and tomorrow’s Haskovo citizens to the liberators.
The House of Chorbadji Dimitrak It reveals the high aesthetic requirements of the wealthy craftsmen and tradesmen during the National Revival period. The L-shaped distribution of the rooms is typical of it. With its beautiful decorative ornaments it is among the richest asymmetrical houses in the city. Next to it, in the old house of Chorbadji Dimitrak (smaller and much humbler, of course) typical of the age French ornaments are preserved.
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