Benkovski House, Historic house museum in Koprivshtitsa, Bulgaria.
The Benkovski House is a residential building from the 19th century in Koprivshtitsa that shows traditional Bulgarian construction with symmetrical design and wooden structures. It features an open veranda that extends across two stories and overlooks the street below.
Built in 1831, the house belonged to the Hlutev family and is where the revolutionary Georgi Benkovski (born Gavril Hlutev) was born. In 1924 it was expropriated for a museum by decree of Tsar Boris III. Before 1989 the display featured weapons of the Georgi Benkovski Partisan Brigade, later moved elsewhere.
The house museum preserves items linked to Georgi Benkovski and his family, including his childhood cradle, a sausage press in the kitchen, and his Winchester rifle. A model of the famous Cherry Cannon is kept here and is used in the annual reenactment of the April Uprising on 1–2 May in Koprivshtitsa.
The museum stands at ulitsa Georgi Benkovski 5, on a slope of Koprivshtitsa, and is run by the town's Directorate of Museums. Stairs above the house climb to the memorial complex "The Man Who Gave the Fatal Sign", which opens onto a view over the town. A granite memorial fountain of 1971, carved by Atanas (Tancho) Yurukov, stands in front of the house.
The house is among Bulgaria's 100 most important tourism sites and represents the architecture of wealthy merchants from the 19th century. Its structure shows the high craftsmanship and lifestyle of this social class during that period.
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