The architecture of Kovatchevitsa is distinctive and original. It can't be described verbatim. It should be seen obligatory. On the basis of the pre-revival houses, in the second half of the 18th c. started being built two-, three-storey houses with oriels of the second and the third floors above narrow cobblestone streets. In that same period they started differentiate the rooms of the Kovatchevitsa houses by their functions.

The ground level, together with several semi-levels kept the cattle and other agricultural functions and stores, and the residential rooms were occupying the upper one or two floors. Two different groups of rooms existed in the Kovatchevitsa houses - open parts, the so called "poton" (tcherdak), obligatory oriented to the south or to the west, that provided a visual connection with the surrounding open space and the closed rooms - rooms with hearths, closets, rooms with ovens and others.

The establishment of that determinate type of houses with its constructional, functional and artistic particularities was a sign for the development of a highly sophisticated, original architectural school in the region of the south-western Rodopes with a center the village of Kovatchevitsa.

The genius of the Bulgarian builders created in the village during the period of the Bulgarian Revival the stone "fairy tail" called "Kovatchevitsa".


© 2004, The "Historical and Architectural Reserve the Kovatchevitsa village" Society, All rights reserved.