Melnik is the smallest and one of the most fascinating towns-museums in Bulgaria. Nestled amongst the lowest south-western fold of Pirin, it combines in it the memory of a prosperous past with the pastoral cosines and the unique in its kind countryside.
     Melnik is situated among whimsical sand pyramids - some of the most fascinating natural phenomena not solely in Bulgaria, but on the Balkans as well. The Melnik and the Rozhen Rivers along with their tributaries deeply cut into the sandstones. Rains and weathering did the rest, sculpting peculiar and bizarre shapes - Gothic temples, towers, columns, mushrooms, fish fins and what not else. A real paradise for human imagination and fantasy!
     Time has not consigned to oblivion the legends and facts about old Melnik. Archaeologists claim that the Thracians were the first to settle in these parts. Later, the Romans passed through it and left a unique trace: the ancient Roman bridge preserved to this day. It is the Slavs, however, who are supposed to have first given the town its present name - Melnik, after the sand pyramids (mel) which envelop the town on all sides. It became a part of the Bulgarian state under Khan Pressiyan (836-852) and within a few centuries flourished greatly. In the early 13th century Melnik was the capital city of the independent domain of Lord Alexi Slav, an important and impregnable fortress and a brisk centre of arts and crafts, of building and trade. It continued to prosper under Tzar Ivan Assen (1218-1241). His charter for duty-free trade with the Dubrovnik merchants brought in together with exquisite goods and artisan skills also a culture imbued with modern humanism.Melnik became a centre where icon-painters, masters of ceramics, goldsmiths producing filigree works, and masons who built churches and houses thrived.
     The vicissitudes of history often changed the rulers of this outlying part of the Bulgarian state. Under Byzantine domination Melnik became the place where claimants to the Byzantine throne were exiled. They arrived with their families and riches, built houses and supported the development of arts and trade.
     The Ottoman conquest ushered in a period of several centuries of oblivion and decline. Yet Melnik again became famous. The spark of the Bulgarian National Revival (18th - 19th century) burst earlier into flame here than in other parts of the country. The town regained its past splendour. It again became a major cultural and commercial centre. In the late 17th century it emerged as a centre of church decoration and openwork woodcarving and some time later, as a centre of the fine mural painting. Many churches and Bulgarian schools were opened. Remarkable works of architecture were built; theatrical performance, quadrilles and waltzes began to be played in the parlours of eminent merchants, after Western fashions. Heavy caravans spread the fame of Melnik wines in the distant corners od Europe. It matured in deep cellars for several dozen years. It acquired thickness and flavour which made it much sought after in Salonica, Athens, Vienna, France, Spain and even in Britain. Several months after the Russo-Turkish War (1877 - 1878) the Berlin Treaty gave Melnik back to Turkey and the town lived through the Kresna Uprising (1878). The town gradually lost its sparkle, and during the Balkan war (1912 - 1913) which ultimately freed it, it suffered devastation by fire.
     Today Melnik is an architectural reserve, a historical town, a monument of culture. It possesses great potential for the development of tourism. The remains of the old-time splendour are sufficient for one to be engulfed into the atmosphere of long past centuries. The old Melnik houses are impressive with their architecture in conformity with the laws of nature, with their wealth, with their wine-cellars, with Bulgarian sense of practicality and beauty. Their characteristic features are related to the geographic factor. The sheer screes and the limited terrain compelled people here to fight for every square foot of land. That is why the Melnik houses seem perched one above the other, so close as though they are whispering something to each other. Again, to cope with the slope, people here built the basement of stone at several levels where the thick wine matured. Above is the storey, towering gracefully, projecting and supported by many cantilevers. The white facades are framed with dark boards and the windows are grouped several together in an elegant fashion. The interiors usually exhibit ceilings of carved wood, chimney-pieces, decorative cupboards of colour woods, murals and even stained glass. But apart from the generally typical features, every house here has an individuality of its own, its own history and life.
     THE FEUDAL LORD'S or BYZANTINE HOUSE precedes the architecture of the Bulgarian National Revival by several centuries. In fact it is among the earliest civilian buildings in the Balkans and is described in Bulgarian and foreign specialist literature. As legend has it, the castle was built for Elena-Olena, a royal relative. The child was sent here to find a cure for a serious lung ailment. The favourable air here helped and she recovered to marry the Russian Prince Igor. Archaeologists have found in the building elements typical of mediaeval Bulgarian construction and have listed it is a Bulgarian feudal fortress, probably built in the 12th - 13th centuries. Today only the Western and the Southern outer wall are preserved.
     THE KORDOPOULOV HOUSE (1754) is a veritable gem of Bulgarian architecture of the National Revival, remarkably planned and executed. Its basement contains one of the largest wine cellars in the town equipped with special canals and ventilation. And above, the house receives the day's light from all four corners of the world. Also there are decorative murals and stained Venetian glass, exquisite carved ceilings and sumptuous Baroque decoration.
     THE PASHA'S HOUSE was built in 1815 on the orders of the richest Turkish bey in the Seres and Melnik region, Ibrahim Bey. But it has reverberated to the steps of the Bulgarian revolutionary Yane Sandansky (1872-1915) who in 1912 proclaimed freedom to Melnik. The house is elegantly and impressively planned and executed with oriels and triangular surfaces on the roof. The wood-carved suns on the ceiling are the work of masters from the Debur school.
     The historical ROZHEN MONASTERY "Birth of the Holy Virgin" is situated at the distance of 6 km north-east of Melnik. It was founded in 1217 and was repeatedly destroyed by fire and plundered. Today's church dates back to the year 1600, renovated in 1732, from which time period are most of its mural paintings. The Monastery Church has preserved mural paintings from 1597, 1611 and 1715, too. The mural painting of the Rozhen Monastery as well as some iconostasis icons are exceptionally valuable monuments of our pictorial arts. The church of the Monastery endows its visitors with its startlingly picturesque woodcarving of the altar iconostasis and the lectern. Unknown wood-carvers left their hearts in this extraordinary piece of art far before the commencement of the Revival Period - genuine evidence about the mastership of the Debur and Samokov Schools of Painting! There was a calligraphic school with Monastery, too whose representatives - monks created the whimsical work of art "Interpretation of Jov", ornamented with 117 open-worked miniatures. Unfortunately it was taken to Jerusalem in 1647. The great Bulgarian revolutionary Yane Sandanski found shelter here during the last years of his life, too. His grave is nearby - beside the St. Cyril and Methodius Church, erected at his initiative.
     Melnik has been popular as a wine-growing region since l346. The famous Melnik vine had been brought here from Syria in ancient times. Winston Churchill, a longtime fan of this wine, for years on end used to order from this robust, deep-flavoured 'southern' wine, produced from a unique local brand of vine.
     The climate of Melnik is favourable for medical treatment of chronic pulmonary, kidney and rheumatic disorders.
     Melnik is situated at a distance of 20 km from the town of Sandanski and is linked through an asphalt road (12 km) to Sofia-Athens international road. There are regular bus connections with Petrich, Sandanski, Blagoevgrad and Sofia. The nearest railway station, Damyanitsa, on the Sofia - Koulata (Athens) railway line is at a distance of 12 km and there is a regular bus line to it.