History

According to the legend, the village of Bozhentsi has a history of more than 600 years. The legend tells of the boyar Bozhana, who in 1393 during the conquest of Tarnovo escaped with her family and seeking refuge in the wooded mountains reached a small river. He settled on the northern slopes of Stara Planina and founded the village of Bozhentsi.

The village is located near the old Roman road Nikopolis ad Istrum – Augusta Trayana – Constantinople. In the XVIII and XIX centuries the village experienced its heyday. Kurdish traders traded and distributed their goods throughout the Ottoman Empire, Russia, Austria-Hungary, Italy and others. At the end of the 19th century there were about 110 houses and 500 inhabitants in Bozhentsi. The historical destiny of the village preserves it in its Revival form until the middle of the XX century, when it was discovered and preserved for generations.

The village-reserve

The specific historical development of the village creates conditions for preserving its Revival appearance until the middle of the XX century. The mass migration of its inhabitants in Gabrovo after the Liberation, when the traditional trade and crafts in Bozhentsi died out, led to the interruption of cultural, economic and social development of the settlement. It is precisely this interruption that helps to preserve the entire architectural and urban ensemble of a Bulgarian settlement from the Renaissance era. In Bozhentsi is preserved the intact Revival atmosphere with beautiful architectural samples from the XVIII – XIX century.

Due to the fact that the village of Bozhentsi is the only Bulgarian village that has fully preserved its character from the Renaissance, which contains and preserves valuable ethnographic and architectural monuments and urban ensembles, and because of its geographical location and climatic conditions allow it to be a resort and tourist site is declared a historical architectural reserve.

On September 6, 1964, the Architectural and Historical Reserve – Bozhentsi was inaugurated.

Two museum houses are open for visits in AIR „Bozhentsi“ – house-museum „Baba Raina“ and house-museum „Doncho Popa“, which present ethnographic exhibitions, Mengema – wax purification workshop, cell school, exhibition hall in the New School and an Exhibition Hall in the Old School. Visiting exhibitions alternate in the exhibition hall, and in the exposition hall, in addition to the visiting exhibitions, the permanent expositions of the museum are also placed. The church „St. Prophet Elijah ”, built in 1841, is connected with an intriguing story told by the guides in the IRA.