The Valley of Roses — where half the world's rose oil is distilled, and a Thracian king sleeps under a painted dome
Kazanlak sits in the Valley of Roses (Rozova Dolina) — a 130km-long basin between the Balkan Mountains and the Sredna Gora range where the Kazanlak rose (Rosa damascena) has been cultivated since the 17th century, producing a rose oil (attar of roses) so valuable that 3–4 tonnes of petals are needed to distil a single kilogram. Each May–June, the valley holds the Rose Festival, when the flowers are harvested by hand at dawn and local women compete for the title of Rose Queen. Kazanlak is also the gateway to the Thracian Valley of Kings — a region thick with royal burial mounds (mogili), the f…
The Kazanlak Tomb (Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak) was built in the late 4th or early 3rd century BC, probably for a Thracian king or nobleman — its domed burial chamber is painted with detailed frescoes of a funeral feast and chariot race that are the finest Thracian art in existence. The rose cultivation tradition was introduced by Ottoman traders who brought Syrian rose plants in the 17th century; by the 19th century the Kazanlak valley dominated global production of rose oil, which at peak could fetch its weight in gold and was the foundation of the modern perfume industry. Bulgaria still prod…