Etar Regional Ethnographic Open-Air Museum Etar

Gabrovo / Bulgaria
2020

Jury justification

The entire site is a living, open-air museum distinguished by the characteristic Balkan architectural structures of buildings that appeared in the country during
the Revival period (18th c. – 19th c.). It is a unique regional museum, situated at the crossroads of the country between North and South, covering a large area, at the
edge of a National Park, not far from the city.
Since its establishment in the late 1960s, it has rescued, reconstructed and taken a holistic approach to the conservation and promotion of the Balkan architectural
and traditional ethnographic heritage. In the preservation, communication and promotion of the national and regional traditional culture, and in development of
cultural tourism and creative industries, the museum has been particularly successful in realizing the concept of a modern, socially, economically and
environmentally sustainable open-air museum.
It is therefore an institution that deserves recognition for generating wide respect for heritage and its values and assets created by man and nature, through taking
into account contemporary times.