Melnik

Melnik is nested in the south slopes of Pirin, among sand pyramids with unusual forms. It is situated in the Sandanski Municipality, Blagoevgrad County, 175 km north of Sofia, and it is only 30 km from the borderline with Greece.

The finds from antiquity discovered in the archaeological diggings testify to its centuries-old history. The most vivid architectural monuments that testify to the town’s economic upsurge at that time are also from the Age of Revival. One of the oldest houses on the Balkan Peninsula is the Boyar’s House (declared an architectural monument in Issue 32 of the State Gazette of 1965), a residence of Despot Alexius Slav. In the middle of the 13th century, a part of it was set on fire and destroyed, and during the following centuries, it was restored and reconstructed. At the end of the 17th century, it was demolished in some of its sections. Still, at the beginning of the 18th century, it was subjected to overall reconstruction related to the construction of an attic floor and a clock tower, which existed until the beginning of the 20th century.