Lamartine house

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This house once belonged to Georgi Mavridi, a merchant from Plovdiv. Built in 1829-1830 by an unknown builder, it is a typical representative of the Plovdiv symmetrical house. Due to the terrain displacement it has irregular-shape foundations. The symmetrical floors have numerous bay-windows that lend a sense of lightness and spaciousness to the house.
  The large wooden gate leads into a small terraced yard. The first floor has hosted a small exhibition dedicated to Lamartine who visited Plovdiv and stayed in this house for three days during the summer of 1833.
  The parlours (“hayets”) and the rooms on both floors have wood carved ceilings and niches decorated with “a-la-franga” ornaments.
  Nowadays the house is used by the Union of Bulgarian Writers.
  The French poet Alphonse de Lamartine described his impressions of Philippopolis and Bulgarian people in his travel novel “Journey to the East” :
  “We left Adrianopolis and set off for Philippopolis. The road runs through gorges and river valleys, bright and green…situated between the high ranges of the Rhodope and the Hemus mountains. We arrived in Philippopolis accompanied by 60-80 people on horseback…We are welcomed by Mavridi’s sister and aunts…Their house is spacious and elegant…
  Philippopolis has about 30 000 citizens. As for location, this is one of the best cities; the hills are horn-shaped, their two tops covered with houses and gardens and streets meandering up and down. The view of the bridges, the gardens, the houses, the big trees by the river…of those mountains with streams running down their slopes and villages and monasteries perching on their hills, all this viewed from Mavridi’s garden, is one of the most amazing places in the world”