Seen from a distance the town of Koprivshtitsa looks almost too lovely to be real, its half-timbered houses nestled in a valley amid wooded hills.  It’s invariably full of tourists drawn by the superb architecture and Bulgarians paying homage to a landmark in their nation’s history which makes Koprivshtitsa the perfect place to buy property in Bulgaria. Whether it is cheap land for sale in Bulgaria, a land plot for sale in Bulgaria, Bulgaria mountain property, or one of the marvelous rural houses for sale in Bulgaria, it will certainly turn out lucrative.  There’s hardly a part of this bold and daring Bulgarian real estate that isn’t named for an episode or participant in the April Rising of 1876, launched here ahead of schedule (on April 20) when the conspirators learned that their plans had been betrayed. Capturing the Konak, the rebels dispatched a Bloody Letter written in the blood of the first dead Turk imploring other towns to join them, and began fortifying the village while rain played havoc with their home-made gunpowder and cherry-tree cannons. As the Bashibazouks burned neighbouring towns, refugees flooded into Koprivshtitsa spreading panic and the local chorbadzhii (heads of the wealthiest families) attempted to disarm the insurgents. The rebels eventually took to the hills (where most were killed), and it’s ironic that – thanks to the chorbadzhii, who bribed the Bashibazouks to spare the village – Koprivshtitsa survived unscathed to be admired by subsequent generations as a symbol of heroism and become a most desired Bulgarian real estate place.
At the northern end of the main street, abundant in fine rural houses for sale in Bulgaria, stands a large house on the corner, the birthplace of Lyuben Karavelov (1834-79). Educated in Moscow, the son of a butcher and sheep merchant, Karavelov organized a revolutionary Central Committee in Bucharest in 1860, and for ten years advocated armed struggle against the Turks in the columns of the émigré newspapers Svoboda and Nezavisimost. After Levski’s execution, however, he repudiated direct action in favour of change through reform and education, and was ousted from the leadership of the committee by Hristo Botev. Built in several stages and surrounded by a high wall, the house contains Karavelov’s personal effects and an old printing press. Many more new mansion houses built to naturally match the typical architecture of town are property for sale in Bulgaria.
On the other side of the main street, where it curves around into April 20th Square, foreign buyers of Bulgarian properties will  see the Dyado Liben Inn, occupying the beautiful Dragilska house built in 1860. On the main square, just beyond, stands the Apriltsi Mausoleum, inscribed ‘Let us keep the national liberty for which the heroes of the rising of 1876 fell’.
The Oslekov house is one of the finest in Koprivshtitsa with pillars of cypress-wood imported from Lebanon supporting the façade. Its Red Room is particularly impressive, with a wooden ceiling 80m square carved with swirling patterns and geometric motifs. One of the medallions painted on the wall shows the original, symmetrical plan of the house, never realized since Oslekov’s neighbours refused to sell him the necessary ground-space. Owners of a property in Bulgaria can imagine the wealthy merchant and tax collector brooding over the rebuff while reclining in the cushioned sofa, taking solace from his pipes and an enormous hookah.
Near the Surlya Bridge is the birthplace of the poet Dimcho Debelyanov where Lazarov’s statue of a seated woman recalls Debelyanov’s old mother, who waited in vain for Dimcho to return from the battlefields of Greece where he was killed in 1916. The inscription is from one of his poems: ‘Delaying in a gentle dream she becomes her own child’. The Church of the Holy Virgin (where Dimcho Debelyanov’s grave is) built in 1817, partly sunken into the ground to comply with Ottoman restrictiond, acquired its domed belfry at a later date, and contains icons by Zograf and the C17 Rasho Gospel. On the same street, the decision to launch the uprising was taken at the House of the Conspiracy, after Turkish troops came to arrest the ringleader, Todor Kableshkov, whose birthplace is at the bottom of the hill. Born in 1854, he studied French in Istanbul before catching malaria and returning home, where he met Levski and began his revolutionary career.  Captured near Troyan after the April Rising, he managed to kill himself with a police revolver at Gabrovo. Kableshkov’s house now displays the insurgents’ silk banner embroidered with the Bulgarian Lion and ‘Liberty or Death!’, and one of the twenty cherry-tree cannons lined with copper acquired by melting down rose-kettles that were secretly manufactured.
Near the Bridge of the First Shot spanning the River Byala where the uprising began hunters of Bulgarian property will see another striking example of Bulgarian Baroque, the Lyutov House, built in 1854. It’s best known for its wealth of murals: palaces, temples and travel scenes splashed across the walls and alafranga (niches); wreaths, blossoms and nosegays in the Blue Room; and oval medallions adorning the ceilings. Following the Kosovo stream down to the main street brings buyers of Bulgarian real estate to the birthplace of another major figure in the uprising, Georgi Benkovski (1844-76). A tailor by profession, he made the insurgents’ uniforms – long jackets of white homespun and caps with the Bulgarian Lion Badge – and commanded a rebel band on Mt. Eledzhik, which fought its way north until it was wiped out near Teteven.
Recently Koprivshtitsa has been drawing people buying properties in Bulgaria for they adore graceful Bulgarian properties or prefer the tranquility and stability of the countryside and rural houses for sale in Bulgaria.
During the summer months, locals, visitors and owners of lovely Bulgarian properties come to enjoy Bulgaria’s largest Folklore Festival, which takes place at the hilly Voivodenets locality near the village with around 10,000 amateur folk-dancers, storytellers, musicians and other performers. This is one more irresistible reason for people who admire cultural events would choose Koprivshtitsa and surrounding area to buy a property in Bulgaria, make a land investment in Bulgaria, acquire a land plot for sale in Bulgaria, or own one of the charming rural houses for sale in Bulgaria.
Whether you are a seasoned investor, a first time buyer, or simply looking for a retreat abroad, come visit this paradise of Koprivshtitsa and find your place among an abundance of Bulgarian real estate.