Welcome to Tsarino! 

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Tsarino is a rural settlement in Bulgaria’s Eastern Rhodope Mountains. Surrounded by green hills, the village looks onto higher peaks in the distance. These mountains on the horizon serve as a natural demarcation between Bulgaria and Greece, which is only ten kilometres away. Secluded in its own valley, Tsarino was home to a community of Muslim Bulgarians who spoke a regional dialect of the Bulgarian language. About fifty families lived in Tsarino before its gradual depopulation in the late 1970s. 

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Before the rise of communism in Bulgaria, Tsarino was known as Asyurt, a name rooted in the Turkish language. During communism, the village was renamed Tsarino. Many reforms were implemented during that time, including infrastructural changes that determined the future of the village. For example, a drivable road was constructed, whereas previously all transportation happened by mule. Electricity and tap water were supplied to most houses. A small school was built and occasionally a mobile cinema visited the village, connecting Tsarino to the wider world.

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There were also plans to develop the logging industry in the region, and Tsarino happened to be located within the proposed area. The rocky hills, formerly home to juniper bushes and other shrubs, were planted with pine trees from Russia, displacing the sheep and goat herds that were an important source of income for many families. These thirsty pine trees also led to springs drying up, affecting tobacco cultivation, another major source of income for the region. 

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A fire in the 1970s caused the electricity network to fail, and around that time the first families began to move to the neighbouring village of Chorbadzhiysko. Chorbadzhiysko itself was a product of communist planning; it did not exist as a village before. Previously, the area comprised a few farms and was inhabited by several Christian-Bulgarian families who had settled there after being expelled from Greek territories during the Greek-Turkish population exchange in the early 20th century. Under communism, Chorbadzhiysko was developed into a regional hub, complete with sawmills, a school, a hospital, and a "chitalishte" (a cultural centre). The village also had a connection to the national rail network nearby. Plots of land were offered to families from smaller regional hamlets to settle in the growing village, and many people from Tsarino moved there, forming their own neighbourhood.

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Although one original resident still lives in Tsarino to this day, most of the houses have been abandoned and fallen into a state of disrepair. Yet Tsarino is still important to the families that used to live there. The mosque and cemetery are maintained and still in use. Some families visit their former homes, pick the fruits from their orchards or ‘park’ their cows in the village. In recent years, the local community has shown an increasing interest in Tsarino and initiatives have been taken to carry out restorations and plant new fruit trees.

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The houses in Tsarino are hand-built from stone, clay, and wood, featuring traditional Rhodopean architecture with slate stone roofs. In many cases, the interiors were designed to accommodate both living quarters and spaces for drying and storing tobacco on the first floor. Additionally, the ground floor often included areas designated for livestock.