The Quiet Nest palace – town of Balchik

The palace, built by the Romanian Regina Maria is situated two kilometers southwest of the town of Balchik, near the Black Sea. In 1924, the 49-year old ruler traveled to South Dobrudja and fell in love with Balchik’s white rocks, the sea, the old water-mills and stone fountains, at first sight. She bought a piece of land here and the building of the palace commenced following her orders. She named it “Tenha Yuva” (“The Quiet Nest”). Maria invited the Italian architects Augustino and Amerigo to prepare the plan and to manage the building of the palace, as well as the florist Jule Jeani from Switzerland to decorate the place, which was to become her home. The construction took 11 years and was finally completed in 1937. Regina Maria, who was English by origin, spent most of her childhood in Egypt, where she adopted the Bahai religion – an extraordinary mixture of elements from the Christian and Islamic believes. This is the reason why the complex includes numerous oriental, Thracian, Roman, and Christian symbols, decorating the splendid colonades, arcs, fountains and Venice bridges. The bridge of sighs, the Mauritian water areas, the enormous authentic Thracian jars and the Roman tombstones exist in harmony, among the magnificent greenery of hundreds of rare tree species and the chatter of tens of little springs, waterfalls and cascades.