Museum of Urban Life - Kaliopa's house

Overview

At first glance, a beautiful house from the 60s of the XIX century, but much more than that. One of the many emblematic buildings for Ruse, in which, next to the Danube shore, is located the Museum of Urban Life. For the tourists of "Little Vienna" it may look like another wonderful architectural work, but for the people of Ruse, Kaliopa's house tells a story. A love story - as beautiful as it is tragic; as real as it is, the fruit of the imagination of generations of Ruse residents. Like all legends, of course, this one about the house of the beautiful Ekaterina Kalish has many interpretations. Ruse ethnologist Iskra Todorova helped us with the difficult task of summarizing them. The most popular version of the legend says that the house was originally owned by the governor of the Ruse Sandzak - Midhad Pasha. However, his heart was captivated by the unearthly beauty Ekaterina Kalish, known as Kaliopa. The beautiful building became her property - a symbolic secluded nest in which the two could meet secretly. The Pasha devised an unsuspecting way to hand over the property to his beloved. He organized a pigeon shooting competition for the ladies from the upper strata of Ruse society. The winner would win the beautiful house. However, in order to be sure that Kaliopa will win the competition, the governor of Ruse emptied the weapons of the other ladies and so Ekaterina Kalish was the natural winner in the race. Unfortunately, the beautiful story between them ends tragically. Midhad Pasha was summoned to Constantinople as a matter of urgency, and his successor expected to inherit Kaliopa's love in addition to his post. But the beautiful Catherine (sometimes known as Maria) Kalish apparently disagreed, as one day she was found strangled, leaving the killer unknown.