The exhibition "La Belle Rose. The mystical power of the small flower" is the result of the collaboration between the National History Museum, the Rose Museum and the Iskra Historical Museum in Kazanlak. The exhibition is dedicated to rose production in Bulgaria and traces the path of Bulgarian rose oil from its first drops to the conquest of world markets in the XNUMXth century.
An interesting highlight of the exhibition is a reconstruction of the wooden stand of one of the pioneers in rose production - Kuncho Shipkov from Kazanlak, with which he presented his products at the exhibition in Chicago in 1893 - the exhibition that Aleko Konstantinov wrote about.
Visitors have the opportunity to touch real rose oil and learn about the connection between the distillation of rose oil and the brewing of brandy. They will see with their own eyes a two-hundred-year-old vessel for storing rose oil, the contents of which would be worth 700 euros these days.
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Already at the beginning of the XNUMXth century, Bulgarian rose oil was an indispensable part of European perfumery. Traders took it by ship through Constantinople to Marseilles, London and New York, and overland by horse-drawn caravans, it reached the markets of Paris, Vienna and Berlin.
The rose trading houses of Doncho Papazov (founded 1820), Kuncho Shipkov (founded 1840), Petko Orozov (founded 1864) and Hristo Hristov (founded 1863) made a strong breakthrough and expansion of the Bulgarian rose oil on world markets.
After the establishment of the first factory for rose oil in the town of Kazanlak in 1820 - "Doncho Papazoglu and Sons", production in the area began to grow, and in 1854 the first trading house for the export of rose oil "Brothers" was established Papazoglou". From that moment on, the trade in rose oil expanded and covered the whole world, with the Papazoglou brothers together with Hristo Tapchilestov opening offices in London, Paris, New York, Vienna, Marseille and Constantinople. A few years later, in 1862, the trading house approached the sales capabilities of leading world companies at the time. Thus, the company of the Papazoglu brothers became one of the most successful revival companies and, together with the other rose trading houses, established themselves as leaders in the rose oil trade. In this way, the influence of foreign resellers, who earn fabulous sums from the large price difference of rose oil locally and in Europe, is greatly reduced. In the mid-70s, the annual turnover of the trading house of the Papazoglu brothers exceeded one and a half million groschi.
The stand
In 1893, at the exhibition in Chicago, Shipkovi's company displayed 51 types of rose oils from Bulgaria in an aesthetic display case made of Kazanlak walnut, the sides of which were decorated with carvings of stylized Kazanlak roses covered with gold varnish.
"... In the foreground in this little shop there are two beautiful showcases with rose oil... And it's good that there is a map, otherwise the curious American women will never be able to guess where the rose oil comes from. Mr. Shopov, always kind, constantly teaches them geography on the map, starting his lessons from Constantinople (otherwise they cannot understand) and leading with his cane to Edrene, then he skipped to our capital, then he circled the borders of Bulgaria with his cane and stopped in the Rose Valley, which he renamed for greater effect "the so-called earthly paradise." The American women, thirsty for knowledge, stared at his mouth and every minute repeated "Oh, yes! Oh, yes, all right!" (Aleko Konstantinov, "To Chicago and Back", 1894)
