Plovdiv Regional Ethnographic Museum
Encyclopedia
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
in Plovdiv
Plovdiv
Plovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia with a population of 338,153 inhabitants according to Census 2011. Plovdiv's history spans some 6,000 years, with traces of a Neolithic settlement dating to roughly 4000 BC; it is one of the oldest cities in Europe...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
. Since 1938, it has occupied the 1847 house of the rich merchant Argir Kuyumdzhioglu in the city's Old Town. The museum features six exhibitions, each occupying a separate room.
History
Although there had been plans to organize a museum of ethnography in Plovdiv as early as 1891, it was not until 1917 that a Regional Museum was established thanks to the efforts of Stoyu Shishkov, a local scholar and journalist. Shishkov was the museum's first secretary and only employee. Even though the museum had gathered a collection of around 500 items by 1930 and despite Shishkov's opposition, in 1931–32 that collection was transferred to the Plovdiv National Library and Museum. In 1938, the museum was revived as the Municipal Museum House thanks to mayor of Plovdiv Bozhidar Zdravkov and was organized in the Kuyumdzhioglu House. The museum was officially reopened on 14 October 1943; six years later, in 1949, the Municipal Museum House became the People's Ethnographic Museum. A permanent exhibition was arranged in 1952 and revised substantially in 1962.Today, the Plovdiv Regional Ethnographic Museum has a collection of over 40,000 exhibits distributed among the Agriculture, Crafts, Fabrics and Clothing, Furniture and Interior, Musical Instruments, Religious Items and Works of Art funds. In addition, the museum boasts a scholarly archive, a library and a photo archive.
Building
The Kuyumdzhioglu House, the museum's home, was built in 1847 for the Plovdiv merchant Argir Hristov Kuyumdzhioglu, reportedly a HellenizedHellenization
Hellenization is a term used to describe the spread of ancient Greek culture, and, to a lesser extent, language. It is mainly used to describe the spread of Hellenistic civilization during the Hellenistic period following the campaigns of Alexander the Great of Macedon...
ethnic Bulgarian
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...
. Kuyumdzhioglu was a prominent homespun trader who owned a company in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. The house was constructed by the master Hadzhi
Hajji
Hajji or El-Hajj, is an honorific title given to a Muslim person who has successfully completed the Hajj to Mecca, and is often used to refer to an elder, since it can take time to accumulate the wealth to fund the travel. The title is placed before a person's name...
Georgi from the Rhodopean
Rhodope Mountains
The Rhodopes are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, with over 83% of its area in southern Bulgaria and the remainder in Greece. Its highest peak, Golyam Perelik , is the seventh highest Bulgarian mountain...
village of Kosovo
Kosovo, Plovdiv Province
Kosovo is a village in Plovdiv Province, Bulgaria, located at .- Geography :Kosovo is located in Rhodope Mountains, in their central part, five kilometers away from a spa. It is surrounded with untouched nature, with four rivers flowing through it...
and has been described as a prime example of Plovdiv's specific mid-19th century Baroque architecture
Baroque architecture
Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
. The house has a symmetric facade; it is two stories tall on its west side and four stories tall on its east side, employing the natural denivelation. The Kuyumdzhioglu House lies near the Plovdiv Old Town's eastern gate, the Fortress Gate (Хисар капия, Hisar kapia), and spreads over 570 square metres (6,135.4 sq ft). It has 12 rooms and airy salons. Both the house's interior and exterior decoration rely on sophisticated floral motives. The ceiling in each room is wood-carved. The house has an inner yard with a garden.
After the Liberation of Bulgaria
Liberation of Bulgaria
In Bulgarian historiography, the term Liberation of Bulgaria is used to denote the events of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 that led to the re-establishment of Bulgarian state with the Treaty of San Stefano of March 3, 1878, after the complete conquest of the Second Bulgarian Empire, which...
from Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
rule in 1878, Argir Kuyumdzhioglu left Plovdiv to settle in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
(Constantinople). From 1898 to 1902, the house was used as a girls' boarding house. Until 1930, when it was acquired by Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
-based Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
merchant Antonio Colaro, it was used by Garabet Karagyozyan's millinery factory, as a flour warehouse and as a vinegar factory. Colaro intended to demolish the house and build a tobacco warehouse, though he was denied permission by the Plovdiv municipality, which reconstructed the house and organized the museum.