Museum of the Rose

In Kazanlak is the only of its kind Rose Museum. The first museum exposition on the Kazanlak rose was opened in 1967 and in 1969 it grew into the Rose Museum, which is unique in the world. It is housed in a new building in the Rosarium Park and is part of the Iskra History Museum. The Rose Museum has a rich collection of objects, photographs and documents revealing the history of Bulgarian oil rose production. The exhibits are arranged in three spaces. In the museum one can also see tools for working rose gardens, vessels for storing and exporting rose oil and water. There is also a reconstruction of a rose oil warehouse and of the first laboratory for researching the purity of rose oil, established in 1907 by Hristo Yaramov. This is linked to a difficult moment in the history of Bulgarian rose production, when the so-called 'tereshe' appeared - a counterfeit of the real rose oil. Under the threat of ruining the reputation of Bulgarian rose oil as the best in the world, Hristo Yaramov's laboratory was a successful attempt to thwart this harmful practice. A remarkable object in the museum's exhibition is a container for rose oil (concuma) that was last used in 1947, but the scent of roses still wafts from it. In the museum, tourists can buy rose oil, various products of the oil-bearing rose, cosmetics, rose liqueur, guel brandy and souvenirs related to the lifestyle and culture of rose growers.