Visit to Etara – an Ethnographic Museum in the open – a working museum of arts and crafts from 18th-19th century Bulgaria

I am finally getting to the point of putting together a posting about one of the interesting architectural, cultural, and historic sites in Bulgaria — the open air museum ETARA. My family and I visited the location during our trip to Bulgaria earlier in August of 2007. The museum is located about 8 km (about 5miles) south of the town of Gabrovo. The location is essential in the northern slopes of the Balkan range near by the Shipka mountain pass.

The village demonstrates traditional Bulgarian artisan crafts and the tools and workshops used in the last couple of centuries in the Gabrovo region of the country. Some of the workshops’ tools are powered by water – essentially the old artisans diverted water from the near by rivers and powered tools like

• sharpening stones
• mill stones
• old style washing machines (for carpets, blankets, etc)
• wood working milling machines
• even a machine for weaving

The museum also demonstrates several styles of Bulgarian architecture as well as unique stone plate covered roofs. Also you can observe a roof implemented from half tree trunks interlocked by carving the middle of the trunks

Here are some images from the museum — you can see the houses and workshops / village streets, as well as the famous Clock Tower of the village (most bigger Bulgarian villages and towns of the 18th, 19th century had those clock towers in the village center/square):

At Old Village Etara in Bulgaria

While at the museum you can also purchase some actual crafts done by the local artisans — things like jewelry (my mother in law purchased a nice silver ring), rugs (kilim style), wood carvings, paintings, and of course some local delicacies.

Near by the entrance of the museum you can stop for lunch in the local hotel restaurant. The food is very good – featuring traditional Bulgarian dishes and of course excellent beer.