page_title: Old Town (Plovdiv)
section_title: Kuyumdzhioglu House
hierarchical_section_title: Old Town (Plovdiv) / Revival architecture / Kuyumdzhioglu House
caption_attribution_description: English: The Plovdiv Regional Ethnographic Museum. Since 1938, it has occupied the 1847 house of the rich merchant Argir Kuyumdzhioglu in the city's Old Town. The Plovdiv Regional Ethnographic Museum is a museum of ethnography (studies people in natural surroundings to develop theories about behaviors and culture). Since 1938, it has occupied the 1847 house of the rich merchant Argir Kuyumdzhioglu in the city's Old Town.
context_page_description: The old town in Plovdiv is an architectural and historical reserve located on three of Plovdiv's hills: Nebet Tepe, Dzhambaz Tepe and Taksim Tepe.
  The complex has been formed as a result of the long sequence of habitation from prehistoric times to present day and combines the culture and architecture from Antiquity, Middle Ages and Bulgarian revival. The old town in Plovdiv is included in UNESCO World Heritage tentative list since 2004.
context_section_description: The house of Argir Hristov Kuyumdzhioglu, a merchant from Plovdiv, was built in 1847. Kuyumdzhioglu was a prominent homespun trader who owned a company in Vienna. The house was constructed by Hadzhi Georgi, from the Rhodopean village of Kosovo, and has been described as a prime example of Plovdiv's mid-19th century Baroque architecture. The house has a symmetric facade; it is two stories tall on its west side and four stories tall on its east side, employing the natural denivelation. The Kuyumdzhioglu House spreads over 570 square metres (6,100 sq ft). It has 12 rooms and airy salons and 130 windows. Both the house's interior and exterior decoration rely on sophisticated floral motives. Each room has carved wood ceiling. The house has an inner yard with a garden, a marble fountain and a well. After the Liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule in 1878, Argir Kuyumdzhioglu left Plovdiv to settle in Istanbul (Constantinople). From 1898 to 1902, the house was used as a girls' boarding house. Following that it was used by Garabet Karagyozyan's millinery factory, as a flour warehouse and as a vinegar factory. In 1930, it was acquired by Hamburg-based, Greek tobacco merchant, Antonio Colaro. Colaro intended to demolish the house and build a tobacco warehouse, but he was denied permission by the Plovdiv municipality. The municipality bought the house in 1838, carried out renovations, and organized the ethnographic museum.
caption: Kuyumdzhioglu House
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