Kovachevitsa Back to History
by Mihail Enev Ph.D.
- Kovachevitsa Back to History
- A Tale of Stone and Wood
- Kovachevitsa Architecture Phenomenon
and Reserve Natural Landmarks
Click here to download the original brochure in .pdf file - 2.31 MB
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Kovachevitsa Back to Historyby Mihail Enev Ph.D.
Click here to download the original brochure in .pdf file - 2.31 MB |
Kovachevitsa Back to History“To be able to enjoy past means living twice” |
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The scarce, rocky terrain was won over by each house with a real feat of construction of many generations. A unique type of compact residence construction, whether row-structures or ensemble-based of groups houses referred to as “fraternal” ones was established ever since the first settlers appeared. The dense space among those houses situates narrow steep alleys with peculiar planning and an original stone-made pavement. The general architecture style, which may be defined as “Renaissance”, is so unique that it does not have an analogue in Bulgarian architecture. Therefore, the public appreciation for the originality and the architecture authenticity of the village assembly and the preservation thereof as a unique and invaluable historical complex was codified into a Decision made by the Council of Ministers under Instruction No 89 in 1977 for declaring the village to be Kovachevitsa Historical and Architecture Reserve. The Kovachevitsa historical past was multi-faceted and its profundity marked by extremely precious archeological finds could be sought as early as the Stone-Copper Age and as a presumably center of an ancient civilization passed onto the Antiquity, inhabited under various intensity over all historic epochs up until the National Renaissance when it reached it complete style zenith.
Unfortunately, no certain sources exist on the historic chronology of the establishment and the development of the village during ancient times. The reports that are more accurate dated from Middle Ages and were associated with the tragic period of Bulgaria under the Ottoman rule. During the period of its establishment, Kovachevitsa not only did it have rich historical background, but also generous nature, rich natural resources of the main construction materials of stone and wood that provided incentives to building solid, firm sites, lasting beyond time. All architecture details starting from the stone-made foundations reaching the stone-made roof, covered by the famous Kovachevitsa tiles – tikli, were created with a sense of moderation and solidity. The cordiality and coziness were achieved by using lavishly first-class materials selected of the pine-tree, beech-tree and oak-tree woods in the vicinity. The first settlers in Kovachevitsa according to historic local memories were refugees of the Turnovo Kingdom defeated by the Turks (1393), which were joined by emigrants from the Kostursko regions. They settled in several hamlets scattered around on grand distance. Another significant immigrant wave was associated with the excesses of the Turkish Authorities during the period of violent conversion to Islam of the Bulgarian population. After burning down the village of Ribnovo the survivors settled in the upper part of the present village around a water spring, now being a large fountain referred to as “Tziganchitza”. The legend that gave the name of the village – Kovachevitsa was associated with the wife of a smith immigrant called Marco – Gina Kovachevitsa (note: Smith in Bulgarian is Kovach). After his decease that probably wise and strong-willed woman was sought for advice and assistance by much of her fellow-villagers, so it became common to refer to it as “I am going to Kovachevitsa” whenever someone was leaving from the down hamlet to the upper one where the Smith’s house was located. Thus the legend linked the name of the village of Kovachevitsa to real persons that indeed existed and a marked note was kept in the local memories. Numerous other factors contributed to the rapid expansion of the village such as the abundance of drinking water (more than 15 springs and 12 fountains), the mild climate, vast pastures, rich nature full of wide medical herbs and fruit (wild strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, briar, hazelnuts, cranberries, wild marjoram, elder sprigs, etc.) The ledged field, meadows and gardens with apple, plum, cherry, pear and walnut trees that exist also today rendered the land attractive for new settlers looking for security of the frequent robber attacks in the low lands. A new migration wave of Bulgarians from as far as Western Macedonia found its Promi in Kovachevitsa in around 1791 as they settled onto the lower western part of the village. Ten to fifteen families from the regions of Debar, Kichevo and Tetovo built their houses established in the socalled Arnautksa Hamlet about the famous Arnautski Chuchur fountain the water in which was impounded (via using special ceramic pipes) pf the Bugata Place. The new settlers of Kovachevitsa introduced new elements in popular customs. Their expertise in building undoubtedly stood out in the architecture outlook of the village. Their confidence of being experienced masons (self-made architects and builders) produced a favorable impact on the general spiritual pattern elevating the other settlers most of whom where prevalently tillers and stockbreeders. Populated with compact Christians with a marked and defended Bulgarian identify Kovachevitsa survived over the entire period of the Ottoman Rule in Bulgaria being a strong fortress of Bulgarianness in the Southeastern Rodopi mountain.
It was not accidental that the building traditions, the professional secrets passed from one generation to the next one shaped several generations of talented builders descending namely from Kovachevitsa, as they later got the reputation of masters of the original Kovachevitsa masonry school. The Kovachevitsa architecture and building school like the original artistic and wood-carving schools was a unique Renaissance phenomenon. The hereditary continuity and the permanent professional perfection laid in the fundaments of its popularity. The number of sophisticated mason masters was awesome as in Kovachevitsa only 300-450 annually were present, and together with the masons from the villages of Leshten, Marchevo, Gurmen, Ribnovo, Ognyanovo, Dolen, etc. the number reached 1200. The construction school could compete with the Tryavna one in terms of mass scale as the latter was thought to be the largest. According to recorded accounts, the Kovachevitsa craftsmen built on more than 70 sites all around the country. The architecture tale of stone and wood that we admire at present times as well was created by the skillful hands of great Kovachevitsa builders – self-made mason geniuses of the Pachalovi, Djigrevi, Mugevi, Djirtovi, Batyatevi, etc. Families. The long-lasting traces of the construction apogee that could be observed today of those gifted men that alone without external help raised a basilica church with a nave and two aisles “St. Nikola” in the period 1841-1847 close to the oldest cell school in the Nevrocope region completed as early as 1820 where the first tutors were the local priests. The church tower built in 1900 was made by Usta (Master) Angel Mitev and Toma Markov who was believed to be equal to the legendary architect Usta (Master) Kolyo Ficheto as the latter name was his nickname that was deserved by his great talent. The church bells were cast on the spot by skillful Goren Brod caster masters of materials donated by the entire community. Tens of bells (tunch’s), smaller bells, metal-made vessels, golden and silver objects and ornaments were melted. Memories are still kept that the bells were removed twice until the masters extracted the finest sound of the metal alloy. The latter wonderful sound is melodically spread even today under the Kovachevitsa sky, and in clear days – as far as the Nevrocope plain. It was not accidental that such a community with a public-spirited mind still praises the name of the public teacher Nikola Kovachevsky – a founder of the first New Bulgarian School in the Nevrocope Region in 1854. The date of the 27th of September when the young 22-year-old Nikola opened the school in his own father’s house, adapted to become a school by himself, his father Ivan Banev and a group of patriots, is still vivid. In the newly created classrooms he presented for the first time the mutual-teaching training method and established a boarding school for the incoming kids from the villages nearby. The school became a “district” one, not only by name, but also in terms of scope of the incoming students. That apostolic and Enlightenment activities by continued by the teacher Yordje Dimitrov Djordjev who in 1982 built with his own funds a new two-floor school building that educated and provided knowledge to generations of Kovachevitsa people as it preserved the name of its patron until present. Public life and cultural demand by the Kovachevitsa inhabitants were encountered in the community center “Svetlina” (Light) established in 1865, as its name remained unchanged for almost 140 years now. A donation of 1500 books made by Stoyan Zlatarev in 1865 was recorded in its Book Stock. The establishment of the first Professional Village Masonry Association in the Pirin region was another important fact. The latter took place in 1873 with the active efforts on the part of the public teacher Nikola Kovachevsky. United in a professional league, the Kovachevitsa mason craftsmen expanded the scope of their popularity and imposed further the style of the Kovachevitsa Architecture and Construction School all over Bulgaria. The Kovachevitsa community had a public-spirited mentality right from the foundation of the village. The strong sense of family belongingness (which rendered the workers come back each winter from distant lands) and of Christian faith were passed on as the most important family values from father to son. Therefore, the April Insurrection event in 1976 against the Ottoman Empire were supported by the bright village inhabitants via setting up revolutionary committees ready to fight. Though Kovachevitsa did not take part in the revolt, the tradition remained alive and later in 1895 a VMORO committee was established. The residents expressed their readiness for self-sacrifice in the name of freedom by dedicated support of the bands of voivodes Slavko Voivode, Shimar Voivode, Yordje Voivode, and the well-known Todor Tetimov – Kanush Voivode. Rebel groups originated from Kovachevitsa also in 1903 during the Ilinden-Preobrajenie Rebellion led by Dimitar Chulev, Stoyko Pashkulev, etc. After the burning down of the nearby village of Baldevo and the detentions and violations following the latter the Kovachevitsa people escaped temporarily to the Plovdiv and Pazardjik regions in order to survive. As it is well-known the liberation of the Ottoman rule in the region occurred as late as 1912. That was the period of the Balkan War in which village inhabitants immediately were involved as volunteers led by patriotic spirit in support of our young country. The peaceful post-war period of 1913-1931 marked the gradual degradation of the typical occupation – masonry. Tilling, stock-breeding and timber industry became the main occupation of the former mason families that already possessed large wood territories. In a record of the Land Register one could see that at the beginning of the 20th century the landsite of Kovachevitsa and the mountain localities included thereto encompassed approximately 300 km2 of the Western Rodopi territory. (Over the last decades the territory was divided up into a public landsite with an area of app. 67 km2 and a state-owned land of 230 km2). That vast territory of agricultural and wood estates absorbed the efforts of the inhabitant as a main occupation.
Numerous tilling families established in 1920 the Agricultural Economic Association “Bratstvo” (Fraternity) with their typical outlook of organized people of the quest. In 1922 the timber labor manufacturing cooperations of “Rodopi” and “Cherven Bor” (Red Pine-tree) were founded, and later in 1932 a modern cooperative lumber mill was built in the Beslet Place set in motion using heat.
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Thracian bronze helmet – 4th century B.C., discovered in Kovachevitsa (NHM — Sofia).
Bronze coin with the image of Emperor Trayan – beginning of the 2nd century (MHM – Gotze Delchev). 
Fragment of a marble consecrated plate with a Thracian rider – 3rd century, discovered in the Kovachevitsa region (MHM – Gotze Delchev). 
Ôðàãìåíò îò ìðàìîðíà îëòàðíà ìàñà ñ ëîâíè ñöåíè – III â. – Íèêîïîëèñ àä Íåñòóì (ÎÈÌ – ãð. Ãîöå Äåë÷åâ). 
Fragment of a marble altar tablet of the early Christian Age – middle of the 3rd century – Nikopolis ad Nestrum (MHM – Gotze Delchev). 
Fragments of ceramic vessels with painted ornaments – 6th-5th century B.C. (MHM – Gotze Delchev). 
Bronze coins with the image of a river god and a trident – 4th-3rd century B.C. (MHM – Gotze Delchev).
Lady’s sandals from Kovachevitsa with knit wool-made socks of the end of the 19th century (private collection, Kovachevitsa). 
Goat’s hair rugs of the Kovachevitsa region – wedding dowry for a young couple – beginning of the 20th century (MHM – Gotze Delchev). 
Kanush Voivode (Todor Tetimov) (1850-1925) – end of the 19th century (photo of the records). Yordje Dimitrov Djordjev (1840-1893). (photo of the records). 
Êîâà÷åâñêè ÷åòíèöè ñ áîéíî ñíàðÿæåíèå îò êðàÿ íà ÕIÕ â. (Àðõèâíà ôîòîãðàôèÿ). 
Woodchoppers of Kovachevitsa that transport timber for the Beslet saw-mill – 1932- 1935 (photo of the records). 
Authentic silver-plated lady’s jewels at the end of the 19th century (private collection in Kovachevitsa). 
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High, up on the
Western slopes of the Dubrashky Part of the Western Rodopi Mountain (23 km Northeast
of the town of Gotze Delchev and 17 km North of the village of Gurmen) at 1020
m above the sea level one of the national architecture legends is situated –
the village of Kovachevitsa. Built in the severe conditions of high-mountain
environment, yet in a mild Mediterranean climate with mountain influence, carried
alongside the Kanina (Bloody) River Valley that juts into the steep slopes of
the land, Kovachevitsa astounds the perception with its amazing architecture
magnificence. 
The finds of the
tombstone in the Rudarya Place of the Late Iron Age and of the Thracian Sanctuary
of the I millennium B.C. in the Kozia Kamak place provide evidence to the latter
rich historical past. Some of the most valuable national finds of the end of
fourth and the beginning of the third century B.C. such as the famous Bronze
Helmet and Bronze Chain-Mail of Thracian Type were found North of Kovachevitsa
in the St. Konstantin Place in the open ancient necropolis. The foundations
of a Middle-Age church were discovered east of the village in the Starata Tzurkva
(Old Church) Place. The traces of an ancient road next to the village that must
have linked Nikopolis ad Nestrum to Philipopolis (Plovdiv) situated it in the
center of intense cultural and commercial interactions in Antiquity predetermining
its rich historical past. 
Noted and recorded in the Ottoman
Tax Registers ever since the 15th – 16th century as Kovacheviche or Kovachoviche,
starting from 13 Bulgarian Christian households (haane’s), the village grew
and during the Renaissance developed noteworthy economic activities, sheep-breeding
reaching a level of 20 000 sheep and craftsmanship: homespun tailoring, lodgery,
and the famous masonry. The accounts recorded on Tetimchehaya (Stoimen Tetimov)
who possessed more than 5000 sheep and an own pasture in the Vishteritza Place
gave an idea on the well-being and the prosperity of the village. At the end
of the 19th century according to records of the Nevrocope Bishopric the Kovachevitsa
population numbered already 1400 people. In the period following 1885 a significant
change occurred in the lifestyle of the wealthier tillers and stock-breeders
who started constructing cog wheels on the Kanina River and trading with timber.
The owners of those more than 13 cog wheels formed a social class of rich and
successful people of whom an entire generation of highly educated, notable persons
with a new public-oriented mentality and status descended. The ancestors of
the village VMORO (Internal Macedonian Odrin Revolutionary Organization) committees
established later of which the local counselors were appointed also pointed
at the latter class. 
The Western
Macedonian settlers produce the most significant impact on the Renaissance aspects
of the Kovachevitsa architecture. The exquisite stylishness, proportionality
and lasting beauty were underlain by their collective efforts and hereditary
talent, their logic-led and rational use of the scarce construction space, and
their creative and free-spirited thinking. However, the latter construction
miracle was not actualized in Kovachevitsa only. Masonry turned into an ancestral
occupation for many generations of workers, which was associated with the construction
of magnificent houses, inns, and churches all over Bulgaria and far beyond its
borders. Alongside the traces of heavy efforts, masonry as an occupation used
to ensure fine confidence, experience, satisfaction and new knowledge acquired
over the course of communicating with numerous and various people. The masons’
labor was seasonal: starting from St. George’s Day (beginning of May) and finishing
on St. Dimitar’s Day (end of October) as it was customary, as the homesickness
for relatives and home was praised in many folk songs. 
The peaceful post-war period of 1913-1931
marked the gradual degradation of the typical occupation – masonry. Tilling,
stock-breeding and timber industry became the main occupation of the former
mason families that already possessed large wood territories. In a record of
the Land Register one could see that at the beginning of the 20th century the
landsite of Kovachevitsa and the mountain localities included thereto encompassed
approximately 300 km2 of the Western Rodopi territory. (Over the last decades
the territory was divided up into a public landsite with an area of app. 67
km2 and a state-owned land of 230 km2). That vast territory of agricultural
and wood estates absorbed the efforts of the inhabitant as a main occupation.
That manufacturing structure, which
the Kovachevitsa residents created, provided them with work places on the entire
operation line starting from the woodchoppers, tim23 ber transporters to wood-processing
semi-manufacturing experts. The slow and yet irreversible migration of the population
from Kovachevitsa to the urban centers started in 1946. Velingrad, Novi Krichim,
Kazanluk, etc. attracted by providing opportunities for more types of education
and various occupations. The outflow of young people depopulated the village.
From a population level of 2000 people under residential stock of 300 houses
as early as the 1938-1940 period the latter declined to 1229 residents. The
situation became even worse over the following decades. The bazaar with the
seven pubs, several butcheries, and twenty shops disappeared, and the streets
became deserted. The population at present adds up to only 50-60 people most
of who at an advanced age, and the vast wood mansions of the village are now
nature reserves and could not serve to restoring any manufacturing whatsoever.
Probably the memory of the unique architecture richness would have been erased
by time if in the 70s of the 20th centuries a re-discovery of that stone town
had not occurred by our local cinema industry. A few intelligent people: writers,
directors, artists, screen writers, and cameramen revealed to the public the
largest movie outdoor pavilion in Bulgaria. Tens of movies shot in Kovachevitsa
spread around the reputation of this unique stone setting worldwide. 
The development of the Bulgarian
Hollywood brought to the Bulgarian cinema an unexpected aesthetic potential.
The authentic architecture environment of Kovachevitsa provoked with its natural
beauty actors, screen writes, cameramen, and directors to reach high professional
levels of expressions. The response in the Bulgarian society from the emotional
contact via cinema means with the deserting village expressed into a spontaneous
attempt of numerous intellectuals and patriots to save this beauty from ruining.
The latter occurred without the intervention of state institutions in a very
natural way of purchasing, restoring, and populating, though on a seasonal basis,
the dying houses. That hand extended to the past architecture reputation of
Bulgarian by our contemporaries was the ethical level, which could be only compared
to the beauty created by preceding generations – a tale of stone and wood by
the name of Kovachevitsa.
