Peyo Yavorov House Museum

Lonely Planet review

The Romantic poet and revolutionary Peyo Yavorov (1878-1914) briefly lived in the small apartment in this house, now a low-key museum.

One of Bulgaria's most admired lyric poets, Yavorov's turbulent life story sounds like it could have come from the pages of a lost Puccini opera. He was born in Chirpan in 1878 and by his early 20s his moody writing style had won him acclaim in the highest literary circles. He was already a celebrated literary figure in Sofia when he joined the guerrillas fighting the Turks in Macedonia, later continuing the fight in the First Balkan War. His girlfriend Mina Todorova (whose parents had forbidden her relationship with the restless poet) died of consumption in Paris in 1910, and it was at her funeral that he met his next love, Lora Karavelova. However, theirs was a stormy marriage and Lora, jealous of her husband's supposed affairs with other women, shot herself in 1913. Yavorov, a now broken and penniless man, shot himself a year later.

The three rooms in the house have been restored to their original appearance, although there are worrying cracks everywhere. Ghoulish mementos include the dress Lora was wearing when she killed herself in the study, Yavorov's death-mask and several photographs of the unhappy couple. Ring the doorbell for admittance.