Traditional Crafts in Tryavna

Tryavna is one of Bulgaria's most important centres of traditional and artistic crafts. Traditional building, woodcarving and icon painting brought lasting recognition to local craftsmen and shaped the distinctive Tryavna Art School.

Traditional crafts as goldsmith's trade, all raw silk processing intended for decoration purposes, braid-making, fleecy-rug weaving, silk-worm breeding, can-making, rose oil and packsaddle manufacture, copper­smith's trade met the basic needs of the local inhabitants. A considerable part of the manufactured goods reached customers as far as Istanbul, Beirut, Edirne, Moscow, Odessa, etc.

The artistic crafts of traditional building, woodcarving and icon painting brought lasting fame to Tryavna and became the main livelihood of the local population for two centuries. The main factors behind the emergence and development of these crafts can be seen in two directions. On the one hand were the picturesque natural surroundings, the abundance of timber and the spirituality of the local people. On the other were the proximity of the old Bulgarian capital, the traditions of the Tarnovo Art School and the many settlers who came from there.

In terms of quality and quantity,  the artistic output of the Tryavna masters reached such a level that it was fully justified to identify it as a specific and independent school. Among the National Revival schools in Bulgaria it was the oldest and the most wide-ranging one in the geographic sense of the word.

Devoted master-builders came both from Tryavna and the vicinal villages. Houses, churches, schools, bridges and water fountains raised by them mushroomed not only over the Bulgarian lands but also in Wallachia, Serbia, Turkey, Persia. The names of master builders as Dimitur Sergyuv, Gencho Kunev, Gencho Novakov, Slav Tsanev, Rali Tsanev remain memorable for the inimitable con­structive and artistic quality of their buildings. Some of them make up complete museums in the open as are the villages of Bozhentsi and Zheravna.

Very often master builders would be excellent wood-carvers, too. Among them were Dimitur Oshanetsa, Ivan Bochoukovetsa, Papa Vitan Jr. and his son, priest Koyu Vitanov, Dimitur Doikovcheto, Gencho Marangozov, etc. they were treated with utmost respect. In their skillful hands wood turned into winding vines, roses, sunflowers and tweeting birds.

The craftsmanship of the Tryavna icon-painters was equal in every way.

In their family studios, the six families of icon-painters, the Vitanovs, Zaharievs, Minevs, Minchevs, priest Dimitur Kunchev and Venkovs painted thousands of icons the fame of which traveled round over 500 settlements in Bulgaria. Austere or smiling, pensive or cheerful, the icons of the Tryavna icon-painters conveyed the spirit of the time they were created in through the years.

Tryavna has preserved the only National Revival set-piece square named after Captain Dyado Nikola.