Culture and art

Bulgaria is a unique cultural and artistic treasury. The Bulgarian lands have a rich, diverse heritage preserved across prehistoric, ancient and medieval eras - and the country's position at the crossroads of civilizations has woven together influences from Thracian, Slavic and Proto-Bulgarian roots with later Byzantine, Turkish and Greek layers.

Early Christian churches like Sofia's Saint Sofia and Rotunda of St. George, the old Saint Sofia metropolitan church in Nessebar, and the Red Church of the Holy Virgin near Perushtitsa are remarkable both architecturally and scientifically. Equally important are the cultural and historical monuments preserved from Khan Asparuh's Danubian Bulgaria.

During the Bulgarian Renaissance, art schools in Samokov, Tryavna and Bansko produced extraordinary wood carving, icon painting and architecture. The Revival-era atmosphere lives on in towns like Koprivshtitsa, Old Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovo, Arbanasi, Zheravna, Bozhentsi, Tryavna, Bansko and Melnik - alongside great monasteries such as Rila, Bachkovo, Troyan and Rozhen.