Plovdiv

The Eternal City, as Rome is conventionally called, is much younger than Plovdiv. So are Athens, Carthage and Constantinople. A contemporary of Troy, Plovdiv is a city upon layers of cities and an epoch upon layers of epoch. Plovdiv is all is one: a Thracian and a classical Greek polis, the pride of Philip II of Macedonia ( that is The Roman amphitheatre where the old name of the town Philipopolis comes from ), the capital of Thrace under the Roman Empire, a
center of Byzantinism a stronghold of the Bulgarians, a dream of the crusaders, one of the prettiest cities of the Otoman Empi re, Bulgaria’s first capital after the Libera tion.

Situated on three hills in the Thracian Plain, encircled by the slow running waters of the Maritza river, Bulgaria's second largest city today, Plovdiv has a 24 centuries long history and is one of the ancient crossroads between East and West. Landmarks remaining from Roman times include the Philip popolis Amphitheatre and the restored 2nd century Antique Theatre. The marble-tiled Forum, the Ethnogrphic museum, the art galleries, churches and the street of folk arts and crafts are major landmarks of Old Plovdid.

The Old Plovdiv on Trimontzium hill is famous fot its National Revival rchitecture (from 18th-19th c.). Many of the houses are now museums: the Ethnographic Museum, the Museum of the National Revival and the National Liberation struggles, the Alphonse de Lamartine museum house.

The Sts. Constantine and Helena Church, completed in 1832, contains murals painted by the best known Zahari Zograph, in 1836, while the St. Marina Church (1852 - 53) has a beautifully carved iconostasis.

There are many more things to see in Plovdiv: the permanent exhibition of the famous Bulgarian artist Zlatyu Boyadjiev (1903 - 1976) who loved to paint Plovdiv; the work shops of the old masters of Bulgarian arts and crafts on Strumna Street coppersmiths, leather workers, potters, etc.