Oh, the Bulgarian rose! From promotional videos to bars of soap sold in tourist traps across the country, the image and scent of the emblematic flower has become synonymous with Bulgaria itself. A traditional crop, vital to the international cosmetics industry, Rosa damascena embodies the beauty, uniqueness and value of Bulgaria – the perfect symbol for a country trying to establish itself on the global travel market.

But if you want to experience the true splendour – and thorns – of the Bulgarian rose, you have to be in a certain place, at a certain time of the year. The place is the Valley of Roses – a series of interconnected valleys squeezed between the Stara Planina and Sredna Gora mountain ranges. The time is late May and early June, when the rose bushes are in full bloom and ready for picking.

Young rose-pickers are a symbol of the harvest

As the name of the plant, Rosa damascena, suggests, the "Bulgarian" rose is not native to the Bulgarian lands. It arrived from the Middle East some time after the Ottoman conquest. Legends claim it was brought from Tunisia or Asia Minor by an Ottoman gardener or perhaps a judge. What is certain, however, is that in 1712 roses were already being cultivated in the region of Karlovo. The new plant felt well in the dry soils and moderate climate of the valleys between the Stara Planina and the Sredna Gora. In the 19th century, towns such as Karlovo and Kazanlak became centres of a growing production of attar of roses that supplied markets in Europe and beyond.

Today, the Bulgarian rose oil remains a strong presence in the international market and is a vital ingredient for some of the largest international cosmetic companies.

The Bulgarian attar of roses is so highly valued internationally mainly for its rich and lasting aroma, the result of a unique combination of over 300 different components. The rose flowers get processed through water distillation, which results in two products: the strong-smelling and very expensive attar and the cheaper rose water. Almost 100 percent of the attar produce is exported, and the water is used locally for more affordable cosmetics, soap and even food processing.

The distillation begins

While the Bulgarian oil bearing rose does belong to the Rosa damascena species, it has a strong local twist. The local variety, the Kazanlak rose, is perfectly adapted to survive colder winters thanks, some speculate, to crossbreeding with the Bulgarian rosehip. The Valley of Roses is the ideal spot for the plant thanks to the combination of the climate, fertile soils that are not too heavy, soft water with low calcium content and an abundance of sunny eastward-looking fields.

Commercial production and international trade of rose oil in the Bulgarian lands began in the 19th century, and boomed in the early 20th century. In 1902, the first steam distillery for attar of roses opened in Karlovo. In 1907 the government established a research organisation dedicated to improving local oil bearing roses and their attar. By the beginning of the First World War, oil bearing roses covered over 9,000 hectares, and in the 1930s, Bulgaria became the world leader with 75 percent of global rose attar production. It is estimated the attar of roses industry provided jobs for about 200,000 Bulgarians.

At that time, the plant was already seen as being rare and unique for Bulgaria, a veritable symbol of the country and its people. This perception has not changed since then.

Women wearing traditional attire participate in official activities dedicated to harvesting oil roses

Under Communism, rose production changed dramatically. The rose oil factories were nationalised, production was modernised and fields expanded. The research organisation grew into an institute dedicated to all essential oil plants grown in Bulgaria, from lavender to mint. It still exists, its scientists have successfully selected new oil-bearing rose varieties with improved resistance to cold. Bulgaria remained the leader in the global market until 1983, when attar of lesser quality, but in larger quantities became available from other countries.

The collapse of Communism, in 1989, was almost fatal to the attar of roses production. Rose fields and factories were returned to their previous owners and their heirs. Few of them knew how to tend the fields, distil rose attar and sell it abroad. Making rose attar is hard work – it is distilled in a special way from petals that should be as fresh and oil-heavy as possible. You need between two and three tons of petals to make just a kilo attar. The total attar distilled in Bulgaria in a year does not exceed 2 tonnes.

Production began to revive in the 2000s, powered by ambitious family businesses and EU funding. In 2014, Bulgarian rose attar became a protected designation of origin.

The chimney of the abandoned oil distillery in Karnare is a silent witness to the times when the rose oil production was streamlined and managed by the state

However, there is a darker side to the Bulgarian oil bearing rose. The deregulation of the 1990s-2010s resulted in a total loss of control over the varieties farmers grew, and the quality of their rose attar. The Oil Bearing Rose Act that regulates production and secures sustainable product quality was adopted as late as 2020.

The heavily promoted image of smiling Bulgarian beauties picking roses under the balmy early summer sun could not be further detached from reality. Picking roses is a tough job that can only be done by hand between 5 am and 10 am, when the flowers are heavy with morning dew and are at their most fragrant. Most of the petals in the fields are picked by seasonal workers, mainly Roma, who are being bussed from the surrounding towns and villages and usually work for a pittance.

Few activities in the rose-picking process can be performed by machines as most of the work is still carried out in the same way as in the 19th century

Meanwhile, the best chance to experience both the charm and the thorns of Bulgarian rose oil first hand is to take part in one of the rose-picking events organised during the Kazanlak Rose Festival. On 1 June (Ovoshtnik village, 9.30 a.m.) and 7 June (Rozovo and Yasenovo villages, 9.30 a.m.) there will be rose picking, followed by distillation at the Kazanlak Rose Museum, from 11 am. The winner of the traditional Queen Rose beauty contest will be announced on 6 June at 8.30 pm in Kazanlak, and a festive procession will be held in the centre of town on 8 June from 12.00 am. 

Sgraffito mural, made under Communism, in Gurkovo, a village in the Valley of Roses