THE MUSEUM OF ROSES IN BULGARIA’S KAZANLAK

Fragrance of roses and lots of music fill the air in the Central Bulgarian town of Kazanlak on 5th of June. The celebrations of the Rose Festival in the Valley of Roses have reached their peak with the crowning of the Queen of Roses and a folklore festival.

So far the Museum of Roses was housed in the basement of an old building, but it is going to have a new place. Over the years, it has changed a number of locations - a canteen, wine cellar and an exposition room.

The rose museum was established in 1967. Its exposition presents the history of Bulgarian rose oil and includes original pictures and documents of the development of rose production, instruments for processing of the rose gardens, vessels for storing and exporting rose oil and rose water. A 100 year old accounting ledger shows that trade was going well a century ago. One of the biggest attractions in the museum is a rose oil vessel.

The museum’s items will be moved to a building which will be renovated and updated. The project has already been approved. The renovation will include a fragrant rose garden in the yard and a distilling installation for extracting rose oil.

Visitors of Kazanlak and the museum will have the opportunity to watch a demonstration of rose oil production, said the chief architect Ivelin Nedyalkov.

The Rose Festival was first celebrated in 1903. As a tradition, celebrations take place every year in the first weekend of June. The event attracts thousands of visitors in the town of Kazanlak and is related to multiple events – rose-picking, rose-boiling demonstrations, international folklore festival, festal procession and crowning of a Queen of Roses.