The Festival of the Rose cultural phenomenon, Kazanlak – The Rose Festival in Kazanlak is the first in Bulgaria and it has a 120-year tradition. In 1903, the citizens of Kazanlak organized the Rose Festival for the first time. It was dedicated not only to beauty and flowers, but also to charity. A special kiosk in the centre of the town welcomed guests and offered rose oil, rose water, gyul rakya, rose jam, essences, soaps and rose perfumes. Rich exhibitions of roses and flowers were organized, occasionally issued postcards with views of the Rose Valley were sold. The funds collected were for poor families, old people, orphans and those suffering from tuberculosis.
A special organizing committee was chosen for the Rose Festival in Kazanlak in 1966. Commissions have been established for landscaping, advertising, finance, commercial and organizational aspects, cultural and sports events. The matter of the further beautification of the Rose Valley and its transformation into a centre of domestic and international tourism was discussed, and on August 20, Ministerial Decree No. 46 was issued, giving impetus to the development of rose production.
In 1967, the first national rose festival was organized in Kazanlak, in which rose growers from the Stara Zagora and Plovdiv districts took part.
And in 1971, by a decision of the Council of Ministers, the Rose Festival in Kazanlak was declared national. Nowadays, the Rose Festival has become an internationally recognizable event, a multi-genre festival lasting more than a month, skilfully combining traditional life and folklore with modern forms of art and technologies.
The recognizability of the holiday on a global scale is only one of the great recognition for the people of Kazanlak who raised the cult of beauty through a single flower. They proved that work and charity can be a centuries-old tradition that creates a holiday, a holiday for morals, customs and spirituality.