Bansko Culture - Museums

Nowadays, in Bansko there is already an entire complex of several interesting museums. All of them support huge collections of unique historical, architectural and cultural works of the most prominent residents of this town in the different times. This genuine complex consists of the house-museum "Nikola Vaptsarov", House of the arts, some interesting Ethnographic exhibitions, constant Exposition of icons, Velyanova house - a particular monument from the Bulgarian Revival period, the house-museum "Neofit Rilski", Town historical museum, The Historical museum in the village of Eleshnitsa with its rich collection from the neolith.

Benina house is a stone building with small picturesque yard and open balcony. It is built on the second half of the eighteenth century. Here in 1793 was born and since 1811 lived Neofit Rilski. The house-museum "Nikola Vaptsarov" keeps a huge interesting collection of the works by this famous Bulgarian poet. There are lots of rich expositions of the unique icons, made in the Bansko Arts School. The Velyanova house is another popular attraction for all visitors of Bansko with its authentic settlement from the Revival period. In the house-museum "Neofit Rilski", nowadays, there is an active oven for breads, preserved monastery school and rich exposition, entitled "Bansko - literary center".

Another spiritual inspiring place is the church "Holy Trinity" with its exciting masses twice a day, on Sundays and on different holidays. In its yard is situated the chapel "St Paisiy Hilendarski" with its unique christening room. The Sirleshtova House is the oldest preserved house-fortress in Bansko. Currently, its main tourist attractions are its active tavern and the previous shelter, which today is also a part of the servicing rooms of the restaurant. Bansko is an important cultural center for the region. According to historic records, the settlement was first established about 9th - 10th century A D on the site, where ancient Thracian settlements had existed. In the 18th century it was mentioned as a large and prosperous village of thriving crafts and trade, reaching as far as the Aegean and Europe.

Bansko Culture - Folklore

Bansko is the center of a historically important arts school. In the 18th and early 19th century talented painters and woodcarvers created works of art in the houses and churches of Bansko, the Rila Monastery, the monasteries on Mount Athos, Serbia and Macedonia. The most famous painters belonged to the Molerovi clan, starting from its founder Toma Vishanov. During the second half of the 19th century another group of painters, led by Usta (Master) Ognyan Ognev, made the decorative elements in the "Sveta Troitsa" church, Velyanova Kashta, and etc. Also famed were other craftsmen and painters such as Angel Velyanov, Mihalko Golev, Dimitar Sirleshtov, Ivan Terziev, Nikola Benin. Bansko gained renown for its woodcarving and local masters.

A monastery school was opened in Bansko in 1817 or 1838 and in 1848 a "mutual school" was founded. Bansko is the birthplace of nationally admired enlighteners, revolutionaries and poets such as Paisii Hilendarski - the author of "Istoriya Slavenobolgarskaya" (History of Slavo-Bulgars)(1762), Neofit Rilski - the founder of secular education and the first Bulgarian encyclopaedist, Nikola Vaptsarov - a remarkable Bulgarian poet of international renown.

Original fortified and artistically decorated houses have been preserved from the 18th and 19th century, built almost entirely of stone, with small barred windows, tall walls, heavy metal-plated gates and interconnected by narrow and winding cobble-stone streets. Remarkable as architectural monuments and examples of fine art are the Velyanova, Benina, Sirleshtova, Todeva, Molerova, Dragostinova, Sharkova houses. The Sveta Troitsa church, the bell tower with the big clock, the midlevel church "Assumption of the Virgin Mary" with its remarkable wood-carved iconostasis make for fine accents in the total atmosphere of the town. Also noteworthy are the museum-houses and collections, souvenir shops and romantic holiday residences, hotels and taverns, cuddled in the narrow and picturesque streets.