Kaliopa House, 19th-century urban lifestyle museum in Ruse, Bulgaria.

Kaliopa House, home of the "Urban Lifestyle of Ruse" museum, occupies a building from 1864 whose facade follows the Levantine style, unusual for this region. The upper floor's frescoes were painted in 1896 by the Austrian Schauesberg. Its rooms recreate a drawing room, living room, music salon and bedroom with Viennese furniture.

Built in 1864, the house served as the Prussian consulate. Legend holds that Midhat Pasha, governor of the Danubian Vilayet, gave it to Kaliopa, wife of consul Maurice Kalish, whom he loved. The upper-floor frescoes were painted in 1896 by the Austrian Schauesberg.

The house displays clothing, jewelry, and tableware from the 1800s that show how European styles influenced urban life in Bulgaria at that time. Visitors can see how affluent families decorated their homes and dressed during this period.

The museum occupies the house built in 1864, with the exhibition arranged over two floors: period interiors below and the frescoed upper floor above. The upper-floor frescoes were painted in 1896 by the Austrian Schauesberg, so look up as you climb the stairs. Allow time for the drawing-room, living-room, music hall and bedroom displays.

The instrument on show is a grand piano, the first imported into Bulgaria from Vienna. It sits among Viennese furniture in the music salon, a room type that Ruse's affluent households adopted as European urban culture arrived at the end of the 19th century.