Bulgarian Rose Oil: 2008

We find information related to the growing of roses on the Bulgarian lands reported by Plinio – Ic. B.C. who in his “Natural History” wrote that in the Thracian provinces of the Roman Empire, the Thracians used to grow 12 kinds of roses and one of them was named “Thracian Rose”.
In the Middle Ages along with the development of the Islam religion in the Near and the Middle East the rose was used for the production of Rose Water.
It is know that in 817 the khaliff Mamun got 30 000 bottles of rose water as a tax.
We find the first reports regarding the production of Rose Oil through distillation in the calendar of Harib from 961, written in Cordoba, Spain. The next historical report for the production of pure rose oil from 1577 in Frankfurt on Main – Germany and in 1614 in the town of Grasse - France.
As a historical beginning of the introduction of the Oil- bearing rose from the Near and Middle East in Europe we can indicate the 13th Century.
During the crusades count De Bruyer in 1270 brought the Damascus rose from Syria France.
The same rose was brought into the Sub – Balkan valley where it found the best growing conditions in an area later called “The Rose Valley”. The specific natural geographic conditions – favorable temperatures in February, the time of the formations of the buds witch blossom in May and June, the high air humidity at this period and the sandy forests soil, on the one hand and the skill of the Bulgarian peasants of the area to produce pure and incomparable in quality rose oil necessary for the progressing European perfumery on the other determined the traditional occupation of more then 200 000 people in Bulgaria.
Among the first historical documents containing information for the development of the Bulgarian Rose growing is the decree of Bustadga Pasha from Odrin witch he had to send roses from the Odrin area to the gardens of the Capital.
Till the 16th century the oil-bearing roses often decorated the palaces of Paschas and Beys, and was later used for the production of Rose water necessary and applied during the Muslim customs and ceremonies.
Evliya Celebi (1611-1673) gives information for the growing of roses in the Adrianople vilayet; to witch belonged the regions of Kazanlak, Haskovo and Loveth. The largest quantities of rose water was obtained in the regions of Haskovo and Adrianople.
The second famous Turkish traveler Hadji Kalfa at the same time precises that the rose water produced in Adrianople vilayet was one of the most important goods of the market.
The German researcher Gabriele Tergit in her “Small History of Flower culture” was first to determine that since 1680 Bulgaria supplied the major part of rose oil for the perfume industry in the world.

The British Ambassador to Istambul reports for production of rose oil in the Kazanlak Valley in 1747; it was exported to London via Istambul.
The French consul to Adrianople in his report from 1849 points out that “the rose oil was produced in the surrounding of Adrianople but mostly in Kazanlak, Karlovo and Kalofer”.
In 1840 the German count Moltke would write: “Kazanlak is the Turkish gulestan, that is, country of roses. There the roses grow in furrows, like potatoes”. In the middle of the last century the oil- bearing rose was planted mainly in four geographic areas of Bulgaria- Kazanlak, Karlovo, Tchirpan, Stara and Nova Zagora. Still we find oil- bearing roses in 1870 in the surroundings of Elena, Triavna and Sevlievo, as well as in the region of Pazardjik. In 1906 the ware in Bulgaria 22 rose growing regions with 210 communities, from which during the 40’s remained only 6 regions.
The question – where for the first time was used the double distillation in the production of rose oil is also interesting. The French researcher Langlais considers, that the production of rose oil through double distillation first was made by the Europeans and not by the Arabs. For initial he indicated the year 1582. And in fact, we find no information at all in the works of Arabian authors regarding the double distillation of rose attar. The European travelers who had visited Persia and India in the Middle Ages do not mention the production of rose oil in this way either. They usually praise the good qualities of rose water. The year 1612 is associated with the use of double distillation by the Arabs, usually recalling the legend for the Persian queen Nurdjikhan.
Since the beginning of the last century the rose oil in India was produced in the same way: they used to put into the cauldron 40 pounds of petals and 60 pounds of water (18 Kg of petals and 271 L of water). The mixture was stirred well with hands and under the cauldron was lit the fire. When the water began to evaporate they put the lid and the cock of the cooling pipe was closed. The distillation lasted about 4- 5 hours and for that time about one half of the water evaporated. With the 30 pounds of rose water obtained they used to pour over 40 pounds of rose flowers and so the process went on. The saturated rose water they used to pour into earthenware or tine container, which they left in cool places during the night. The next morning the rose oil was separated with special instruments. The Indian rose products didn’t use cooling vassals with cooling pipes. They put the vessel with the distillate into cold water. Similar in form and technology is the French alembic where the cooling pipe is inclined at an angle of 30 degree.
In his 330 years’ history of rose oil production the Bulgarian rose grower introduced a number of new details in the traditional technology known at that time. Through those he not only increased the quantities of oil obtained, but also maintained its fine fragrance and incomparable quality.
The primitive rose distillery- Gulapana was usually built in proximity of running water. Under a special shed ware built the fireplaces for one, three or more distillation cauldrons in function of the land cultivated by the grower. The rose grower Petko Ozorov from Kazanlak caught the waters of the springs in the area of “Atemoy vrah” and built an artificial river “Abayata”, on which he established the distilleries of St. Grouyoglu, St. Kaseoglu etc.
The Bulgarian rose producer implemented two new methods of cooling at the distillation of the rose petals: cooling vat and cooling tub. The pipe was inclined at 45 degrees from the alembic to the cooling vessels. The lid of the Bulgarian alembic was larger then the Indian and French ones, with reverse inclination at the end which contributed for better accumulation of the water distillate.
During the past century along with the development of the rose growing in Kazanlak operated 42 craft shops for production of alembics, which not only manufactured alembics, but also used to tin them. In 1860 in the Kazanlak were used 1271 alembics with capacity of 160. The number of the operating alembics in the rose valley in Bulgaria depended on the number of rose gardens for the year. The above said information is available from a representative of English “Pharmaceutical Journal” who visited Bulgaria at that time. It is interesting to know that the author distinguished three qualities of Bulgarian rose oil. According to him in the villages with dominating Bulgarian population, such as Shipka, Touria, Morozovo etc. was produced most of the first class rose oil. The information that the magazine supplied regarding the preceding year, 1895 confirmed that because of the “rust” disease on the oil- bearing rose, less distillation alembics ware use. The average rose oil produced during the harvest period one alembic was 135 vials or 675 grams.
Till the beginning of our century or around 1902 when was started the building of distilleries operating with alembics with capacity of 800 and 2000 liters, the number of smaller ones used before was reduced considerably. While in 1905 there were in the country 2798 distilleries equipped with 13128 alembics, in 1931 remained 376 distilleries with 1449 alembics. Besides the new shape of the alembic, the Bulgarian producer implemented new elements in the technology of the oil production. He used to put in the container about 15 kg of flower and 601 of pure water, often spring water. Usually he kept a production of 1:5 or 1:4 flower: water depending on year-rainy or dry. The extraction of Bulgarian rose oil lasted for about 3 hours and the collected distillate from each alembic, about two bottles per cauldron, was redistilled, and the rose oil obtained was separated by means of special devices. For the ostentation of 1kg of rose oil were needed about 3000kg of rose flowers, picked up between 5 and 11 o’clock a.m.
The production of more and better quality rose oil depended both on the region where flowers were grown and the skill of the distillation masters. Turkish documents form 1864 related to rose distillation in the region of Nova and Stara Zagora prove the Bulgarian rose oil producers compared to the Turkish ones, obtained more oil per alembic, respectively 40 to 85 vials or double the quantity produced by the Turkish. According to local rose oil producers the secret consisted in the right time reduction of the strong fire and the continuing of distillation at low fire and regular cooling by means of the cooling vessels where cold water was running continually.
Original in shape and content is the copper container for storing and export of rose attar, called “Konkouma”. The Bulgarian rose dealers used to export rose attar in “konkoumas” with capacity from 50g to 5kg, but for storage they used such containers with capacity up to 200kg. Depending on the orders of the perfume makers those copper containers were wrapped up in soft felt fabric and isolated with felt finally arranged in wooden cases for exports.
The production of rose along its 330 years history was different. While in 1849 were produced 180 000 vials or about 900kg, in 1852 they were 300 000 vials or 1500kg. The pre- war years, 1905 – 1914 marked the highest rose oil production- between 3 and 6000kgs. In 1917 in Bulgaria there were more then 80 000 decars (1 decar = 1000 m2) rose plantations. The price of a vial or 5 grams of rose attar was different. In 1799- 1805 the price was between 3 and 5 groshes, in 1820 it was 3 groshes, in 1850 – 7 groshes and in 1878 it was 16 groshes. After the Liberation in 1878 the price was still going up. In 1885 – 5 leva, in 1897 – 6 leva, in 1922- 82 leva and in 1925 – 270 leva.
The application of steam heating at the distillation of the rose was introduced in 1876 by the rose- dealers house H. Hristov, but the war from 1877- 1878 interrupted the large- scale application of that method. At the beginning of our century such method was applied by French specialists in the region of Karlovo.
Many appraisals, diplomas and medals testify for the quality of the Bulgarian rose attar.
In 1888 because of the pretension of certain German specialist that Bulgarian rose oil was of an inferior quality with respect to the German oil produced in Leipzig, 330grs of Kazanlak rose oil was sent for testing to the Moscow chemical laboratory. After numerous analyses carried by Russian specialist, a book entitled “The Bulgarian Rose Oil”, Moscow, 1892 was published where the authors stated: “The German rose oil differs from the Bulgarian one by its darker color and contains more stereoptene. “It is obvious that its high percentage needs to be reduced as well as its total value. “It is perfectly wrong the opinion that the German rose oil is more efficient then the Bulgarian in its application.”
At the beginning of our century the chemistry teacher at the Kazanlak pedagogical school, Hristo Iaramov- the founder of the first Bulgarian laboratory for testing- rose oil and he began to issue quality certificates for export.
The presentation of the Bulgarian rose oil on world exhibitions and fairs brought many gold medals and diplomas for the exhibitors. The rose dealing house “Dontcho Papazoff and Cie” won two gold medals at the exhibition in Vienna in 1873 and in Philadelphia, USA, 1876.
The Bulgarian rose oil won also: A Honor Diploma from the exhibition in Anvers, 1894; Gold Medal plus Diploma from Chicago- 1895 and Gold Medal from Grasse, France- 1902.
The rose dealing house “K. Shipkoff” from Kazanlak, in 1889, showed 19 kinds of rose oil coming from the rose growing regions of Bulgaria at the Paris exhibition. Later, at the exhibition in Chicago, in 1893, they participated with 51 types of rose oil. Their company won Gold medal in Paris, 1899; in Chicago- 1893 and Anvers- 1894.
The rose dealing house “Hristo Hristov” won gold medals in Philadelphia- 1876, Amsterdam- 1883, Paris- 1893 and gold and silver medals at the Plovdiv Fair in 1893.
The rose dealing house “Petko Ozorov and Sons” won gold medal from the exhibition in Liege in 1905, a Diploma from the exhibition in Milan, 1906 and the Grand Prix from London- 1907.
Gold Medal and Diplomas also won the commercial houses: “Stefan Serafimof and Cie”, “Iovtchev Brothers”, “Nikolay Kazarov”, “Stefan Kyoybashiev”, “Stefan Lilov” etc.
The development of the European perfume industry by the end of the 17th and especially during the 18th century in Grasse and Paris- France, London- England, Colon, Berlin and Leipzig- Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Russia and other countries, determined the second important economic factor which stimulated the development of the Bulgarian rose production and export of rose attar.
There existed two ways of export for the European markets: via Romania and Vienna by land and Istanbul by sea.
The dealer Hristo Rashkov from Gabrovo, in 1782 used to export Bulgarian rose oil via Bucharest to Vienna and to Moscow for the brother Nikiphor and Hristo Aprilov.
In 800 the dealer from Kazanlak Hristo Nikolov also exported rose oil via Bucharest to Vienna. At the beginning of the last century, till the foundation of the first Bulgarian rose dealing houses, the rose oil was mainly exported by agent s of Austrian, German and Greek trading houses, such as “Hammer- Hirtchell”, “Yanko Antoniadis”, and Mr. Gasper and Mr. Kasmann from the German “Holstein” and so on.
In 1820 Dontcho Papazoff from Kazanlak founded the first Bulgarian rose dealing house, both for production and export of rose oil. Besides the production he also used to purchase the product from the producers in the area and initially sold it at the fairs in Sliven, Ouzoundjovo and Adrianople. In 1854 his sons, Dimitar and Botyo Papazooglu decided to extend the trade and production of rose oil. The French dealer, Mr. Bilen, in 1860 gave then credit at the amount of 61,880 groshes. While in 1862 the Papazoffs brought and exported 72000 vails. Mediator of the Papazoffs in London became Nikola Boyadjiev and main customers of Bulgarian rose oil in France were the firms “Oubigan”, “Lobin”, “Leopold Bing”, “Eugene Guimmel”, “Gerlaine” etc.
Through the rose dealer Toptchilechov in Istanbul the Papazoff sold oil to “Menson” – Nice, “Freger” – Leipzig, “Pachev” – Odessa and many others.
In 1840 in Kazanlak was founded the second rose dealing house of Kantcho Chipkoff with office in Kazanlak. Initially they sold Bulgarian rose oil through the Austrian firm “Imsen” having an office in Istanbul. After 1885 was founded the association “Kantcho Chipkoff and Cie” and offices ware opened in London, Paris and New York. In a short time that firm became the biggest exporter of Bulgarian rose oil to the American market. In 1885 they exported 3,600 oz, the next year 6,200 oz and seven years later the half of the imported and consumed on the American market Bulgarian rose oil.
The rose dealing house “Petko Orozov” was founded in 1864. At the beginning of our century the company opened branches in Berlin, Paris, London, Milan and New York.
They built two distilleries in the villages of Rozovo and Kazanlak. Besides the rose production, the son, Alexander Orozov also dealt with banking and agriculture.
The forth major rose dealing house in Kazanlak was founded the following 1865. The founder, Hristo Hristov, graduated from the French Catholic School in Istanbul and later from a commercial school in Paris. In 1865 thanks to the financial aid of the Frenchman Felix Prote he became the main supplier of Bulgarian rose oil for the Paris perfumery “Lobin”. He later became a partner of the French Emile Collas and together with him they opened branches in Kazanlak and Paris. They established three factories for the production of rose oil in the villages of Manolovo and Vetren (Kazanlak), and Begountsi (Karlovo).
At the beginning of the century were founded the rose dealing houses: “Kostadin Nintchev”, “Gueorqui Katchedjiev”, “Lalyo Kolev”, “Hristo Pandev”, “Dianko Guerganov” and etc. As a result of the increased demand and interest for Bulgarian rose oil. For ex during the period from 1924 till 1930 to France ware exported 11,776 Kgs of rose oil or an average of 1670 Kgs per year. In Germany – 3,503 Kgs or an average of 500 Kgs per year, in the USA – 5,500 Kgs or an average of 730 Kgs per year, in Switzerland – 2,000 Kgs or 280 Kgs per year and in England – 4,000 Kgs or an average of 580 Kgs per year.
The 330 years long history of the Bulgarian rose production influenced the living of the local population, its material and spiritual culture. Many crafts were developed, such as glass industry, cooperage, braziery, tinnery and others. Folk songs, related to the rose production were created. The rose was also represented on mural paintings, on traditional fabrics, wood carvings etc. “Bulgarska Roza” factory, founded in 1947, nowadays “Bulgarska Roza Seftopolis” for nearly 50 years has been granting the high quality if the Bulgarian rose oil, an incomparable component of the leading perfume compositions all over the world.

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