When you do as much walking as I do, you can cover a lot of area. One thing that has amazed me here, is the amount of interesting public art around Plovdiv. Not just beautifying the tourist areas, but all around the city.
Decorating Buildings
There are numerous buildings here, all from a specific era, that can have have one entire enormous wall, artfully decorated. They appear to be from the early 1970’s and are marvellous! Many now are quite hidden and I have had difficulty getting decent photographs. Please excuse the quality of some of my pictures of these buildings.
This one below, I saw on a recent train trip as I was leaving the city. The train passed this large building that looked abandoned. On two sides I noticed this gorgeous period art work! It makes me truly sad that these pieces are being left to decay. They are so beautiful.
Statues
Just about everywhere I walk I see statues of various significance. Many of these have been created by local artists and are mostly scattered throughout the tourist areas.
This one is in a bushy area in old town. When I first noticed it from the front, I thought it was a marble sphinx! But upon further inspection, it looks like a female figure bending backwards? A gymnast perhaps?
And this female figure is almost completely hidden in the brush and trees now. She stands tall and proud outside of a tennis court near the base of Bunardzhik Hill. Sadly, she is in quite a state of disrepair.
Many of the statues are huge! Definitely Soviet Era pieces, they intimidate their surroundings.
Other
Plovdiv has produced some very famous artists. There are many galleries here with which to peruse their work. Walking around town, you will see some of this displayed and it can be varied and moving. Here is a selection of what I have seen.
Every day when I am out walking, I see new to me pieces of art. It really makes exploring this city quite interesting. Why just today, I walked through a square behind the Dzhumaya mosque that I usually avoid, as it is full of vendors. This morning I was out early, the heat wave is upon us and I cannot stand walking later in the day when the temps are 38 degrees and higher. I have no idea what this says, but it is placed into the cobblestone walkway and caught my eye. I thought it beautiful.
