The historical settlement of Arbanassi became the first architectural reserve with an updated status, corresponding to the Cultural Heritage Law.
The Specialized Expert Council for the Protection of Immovable Cultural Heritage (SESONKTS) accepted the proposal of the NINKN, the result of 4-year large-scale studies and analyses of the historical urban planning and architectural typology, the current state and interventions in the settlement and property structure.
The scientific research work of the experts is the basis for the creation of detailed regimes for the protection of the group immovable cultural value.
Large houses with rich functionality, spacious courtyards and high stone fences – This is what the village of Arbanasi was like in its heyday nearly 4 centuries ago. The first written evidence of the settlement's establishment dates back to the late 15th and early 16th centuries. It was recorded in the Ottoman cadastre as part of the endowment property of Rustem Pasha, son-in-law of Suleiman the Magnificent. It had a derventjiyski status (guard of the pass), which gave its inhabitants the right to bear arms, but in fact they were wealthy merchants and cattle breeders.
The preserved buildings from the pre-Renaissance period are different from the familiar folk architecture from the Revival and are the most valuable heritage of Arbanasi. The Kardzhali attacks at the beginning of the 19th century caused damage to its architectural appearance, the population structure changed, and urban regression began. During the Revival, new neighborhoods with denser buildings and smaller houses appeared.
The historical settlement includes 150 sites from the periods of rise and decline. Archaeological structures have also been discovered in its territory.
After 2000, difficult times began for the preservation of Arbanassi. In 2002, an uncoordinated plan for regulation and development came into force, which expanded the building boundaries of the village in contradiction with the current regimes. Many of the properties were fragmented at the expense of the large Arbanassi courtyards. The previously low density of development, from 10 to 20%, reaches 40% in the new zones, and thus the village loses one of its distinctive characteristics.
Modern interventions damage the group's immovable cultural value and change the spirit of the place.
The aim of the updated rules is to preserve the historical settlement structure and stop the negative trends related to overdevelopment, transport, technical and tourist infrastructure and landscaping with species alien to the region.
The sheet summarizing the detailed study is over 150 pages long and contains about 150 current and archive images, analytical maps and graphic documentation.
The new boundaries and protection regimes of the historical settlement of Arbanassi were prepared by the experts of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage and Natural Heritage, arch. Antoaneta Antonova, Ph.D. arch. Radosveta Kirova-Delcheva, architect Alexander Mladenov and architect Irina Dakova.