Sarafska House /Arie’s Home/

The Arie family is one of the most popular Jewish families in Bulgaria. Especially the family who lived in Samokov has their incredible history. They are sefardic Jews coming from Wien and they settled in Samokov in 1793. The story of Arie family is colorfully and widely connected to the life in Samokov during the 19th c. During that time the city was separated into several neighborhoods – Bulgarian, Turkish, Jewish and Gypsies’s, so it is considered that the city had a gravitation effect over settlers. The wealthy Jewish family Arie built a few houses in the city of Samokov and also the city Synagogue. The so-called Big Sarafska House that had a big hall is unfortunately not preserved. The house had a balcony with beautiful woodcarvings where the orchestra sat while some picturesque landscapes of exotic beaches with palm trees and drawings of distant cities were adorning the house walls. Out of the other four houses built by the Arie family during the 19th century’s 50s and 60s only one is still preserved and now it is called the Sarafska House. It is believed that like this one the other houses also had big yards with small waterfalls, flower-beds and glazed verandahs used also as winter- gardens. The Sarafska House is now opened to visitors as a museum. Just in front of it is the Synagogue.

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