Svishtov is a beautiful town on the river Danube in Bulgaria, as the name is sometimes hard to pronounce, its rich history makes it a good choice for visiting. One of the most famous houses in it is Aleko Konstantinov’s house. The famous Bulgarian author was born in it; the house itself was built in 1861 by his father. That time Bulgaria was part of the Ottoman Empire till 1878. As one of the richest in the region, it had many famous guests; one of them is the Russian emperor.

The house is spread on 425 sq m and it was considered huge by the time it was built. It has two floors. Although the family is big, the author lost all of them before his sudden death, so at one time the house had no heirs. It became a museum in 1926, so even now after 100 years everyone can go in and see the life of the rich Bulgarians at that time. It was one of the first Museum houses in Bulgaria.

The furniture is from Vienna as we can see the chairs and the table are not common. As it was an intellectual house, a piano is a symbol of it. Although little Aleko was playing with words better.

The most things are foreign but the covers on the furniture are Bulgarian; even nowadays many women can knit so beautiful covers by hand.

We can see many gas lamps as it was the time before electricity. On the second floor we can see the authentic room with the mirror and the dressing table, there is a jug with a deep bowl for washing face and hands. On the floor there is even the authentic baby cradle where the author and his sisters were raised as babies.

On the floor are the famous Bulgarian carpets but in reddish colors which match the drapery.