Staro Zhelezare

Beatles, Merlin Monroe, Vladimir Putin, Todor Zhivkov, Angelina Jolie. These are just a part of the world’s politicians, Bulgarian and foreign stars, who you can meet if you visit the village of Staro Jelezare. It is located ten kilometres from Hisarya. Almost every house in the village is painted with black and white graffiti. So, while travelling through the village, you are watched by the eyes of dozens of famous people.

he former communist leader of Bulgaria Todor Zhivkov quietly bakes in the sun to his daughter Lyudmila Zhivkova, who was eager to make the world know more about the glorious history of Bulgaria. The actress-beauty Merlin Monroe, instead of smiling at her beloved president, John Kennedy, is looking at some of the pigs that surrounded her. Maybe as a metaphor of the Bulgarian proverb – the good apples are eaten by the pigs. Kennedy, for his part, is a much smaller portrait and instead of his beloved is in the company of a bunch of dictators like Nicolae Ceausescu and Joseph Stalin. Marlon Brando, in the role of the Godfather of the eponymous film, turned his back on a cow.

Among the stellar graphite, the company is the politician – the Bulgarian nationalist Volen Siderov. Leaders of the world’s greatest religions are also drawn. Barack Obama and Fidel Castro are also entertained, apparently telling funny stories at the Staro Jelezare’s fences. Instead of his beloved Yoko Ono, John Lennon was forced to share the eternity with another great Beatles – Paul McCartney. Naturally, one of the greatest Bulgarian athletes, who brought the glory of Bulgaria all over the world, Hristo Stoichkov. And while you are in the village of Staro Jelezare, do not miss to visit the ethnographic complex “House of Traditions”, to light a candle in the church “Virgin Mary” and to visit the cromlech of Cholakova Mound near the village.