About Samokov and property
Though it lacks the cachet of antiquity,
SAMOKOV can boast a tradition of skilled craft work second to none in
Bulgaria. Founded as a mining community in the fourteenth century, it soon became one of the busiest manufacturing centres in the Turkish empire (its name derives from the Bulgarian verb "to forge"), where all kinds of crafts guilds flourished, particularly weavers and tailors, who turned flax (still a major product) into uniforms for the Ottoman army. From the seventeenth century until the end of Turkish rule,
Samokov's stature eclipsed that of Sofia and Kyustendil - and was raised even higher by the artistry of its woodworkers and painters, who decorated Bulgaria's finest monasteries. Nowadays the town is famous as the centre of Bulgaria's most prolific potato-growing area, and you'll see sacks of the things sold by roadside hawkers on your journey into town. Though foreign tourists from nearby Borovets are sometimes bussed in to wander around during the day, the place isn't really geared up for tourism, so it's best to digest what there is and move on.
Samokov town centre
There's plenty of evidence of
Samokov's past in and around the centre, although modern urban planning has left its monuments marooned in a sea of crumbling paving stones. The ornate fountain or cheshma on the main square is a legacy of the Turks, who considered running water an essential part of civilized living. Close by stands the only one of
Samokov's once-numerous mosques to survive, the Bairakli dzhamiya (Mon-Fri 8am-noon & l-5pm), preserved as a monument to the skills of local builders rather than as a place of worship. Commissioned by the pasha in 1840, its design betrays Bulgarian influences: the roof-line mimics the shape of a kobilitsa, or yoke, while the interior decoration relies upon plant motifs rather than arabesques, with a magnificent sun symbol (bearing a surprising resemblance to the Star of David) beneath the dome. On Monday mornings, the environs of the mosque and main square are taken over by a big market selling everything from counterfeit sportswear to homemade rugs and woodcarvings, with the odd antique as well as lots of complete junk.
Just off the square to the east, the History Museum (Mon-Fri Sam—noon & l-5pm) traces
Samokov's evolution up to the present day. The town's industrial past is remembered in a sequence of models illustrating the mining and smelting of iron ore: one shows a gargantuan, waterwheel-powered set of bellows used to force air into the furnaces. Elsewhere the accent is on the various trades that made
Samokov famous as a craft centre, with displays of ceramics, ironmongery, engraving and printing - the last started by one Nikola Karastoyanov, who opened Bulgaria's first printing house here in the early nineteenth century. There's a disappointing lack of exhibits relating to the
Samokov school of icon painters, who decorated churches and monasteries throughout Bulgaria in the nineteenth century, although one display cabinet does contain the personal effects of Zahari Zograf, the greatest of their number.
Continue east for 400m and you'll stumble upon the impressive shell of a derelict synagogue, built to serve
Samokov's prosperous Jewish community in the nineteeenth century. Next door, a walled garden filled with fruit trees wraps itself around the dazzling, blue and white Sarafina House (Sarafskata Kashta; Mon-Fri 8am-noon & l-5pm), home to a rich Jewish trading family in the 1860s, and fully restored in the 1970s. Inside, chambers lead off from the main reception room, each sumptuously kitted out with traditional carpets, vivacious floral wall paintings, and intricately carved wooden ceilings.
South of the main square: woodcarving, icons and frescos
Ulitsa Boris Hadzhisotirov leads west from the main square towards the old Bulgarian residential quarter of town, and the metoh, or Convent of Sveta Bogoroditsa at no. 77 (daily 6am-8pm). In the porch of the convent church there's a fine nineteenth-century painting of a winged Virgin Mary who extends her cloak to shelter the believers - the local priests and their flock -who herd beneath it. The church interior features colourful modern murals by local artists, imitating the folksy style of Zahari Zograf and his generation, while outside, a cobbled alley leads past a ramshackle collection of nunnery buildings and a beautifully maintained garden. A little way further on, the walled Church of Sveti Nikolai features cast-iron weathercocks on each of its three cupolas.
Although such skilful wrought-ironwork embodied the fusion of art and industry during the town's commercial heyday, greater fame accrued to the
Samokov school of woodcarvers. Collectively, this refers to local artisans (some of whom studied on Mt Athos in Greece in the late eighteenth century), in particular to a group formed in the early nineteenth century, primarily to make the iconostasis for Rila Monastery. Although executed in 1793, the iconostasis of
Samokov's Metropolitan Church on ul. Zahari Zograf, a couple of blocks west of Sveti Nikolai, is characteristic of their work. Its covered with intricate figures linked by plant-like traceries, interspersed with rosettes - which sometimes took the form of a six-petalled narcissus. The church's collection of icons presents the
Samokov painting school at its best, with | Hristo Dimitrov's Enthroned Jesus a particular highlight.
Barring the occasional angel,
Samokov woodcarvers generally avoided depicting human figures, preferring to represent eagles, sparrowhawks, dragons, falcons and, above all, plants. Practicalities There's no tourist accommodation in Samokov as such; the best bet is to head for nearby Borovets, 10km south, or Govedartsi, 12km southwest. Aside from a smattering of cafes on the main square, eating and drinking opportunities are scarce: the Cafe Papillon, opposite the History Museum, is probably your best bet. Moving on from
Samokov, there are buses roughly every 30min. to Borovets (the last one leaves at 7pm), seven daily to Govedartsi, and three minibuses to Malyovitsa. For Rila Monastery you need to take the 10am bus to Dupnitsa and change there. Dupnitsa-bound buses go by way of Sapareva Banya, Bulgaria's most ferocious mineral baths, whose hottest spring is fed by a superheated geyser (102°C) gushing 550 gallons of sulphurous water a minute.
Samokov is one of the exclusive place for
investment property in Bulgaria.
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