Opalchenska – the street with the most neglected buildings in Veliko Tarnovo

Opalchenska street was one of the most neglected streets in Veliko Tarnovo both in terms of its condition and the buildings located on it. However, the street’s appearance is about to change.

A big investment is expected to happen on Opalchenska street, which is also the northern entrance of the city and has so far been known for the ever-falling houses and big holes. However, a powerful investment process is expected to happen. The repairs of the first three old buildings, which are at the beginning of Opalchenska, have already been approved.

People are most impatient for the restoration of the Ionov Inn, which is located at the very entrance of the city. In the past, there were more than 70 inns in Veliko Tarnovo, which have a special place both in the architectural aspect of the old town of Tarnovo and in its economic life. Besides travellers spending the night in the inns, they are also used as warehouses for expensive manufactured goods and workshops for master craftsmen. In some of them, there are even pubs and cafes. One of the most important inns is exactly the Ionov Inn. This inn will undergo a complete restoration and transformation into a three-star hotel.

Edmund Beck purchased the building for BGN 100,000 and the investor plans are to restore it and turn it into a three-star hotel with 20 rooms and a panoramic rooftop terrace with a magnificent view of Trapezitsa, Tsarevets and Momina fortress. The investment will be for about BGN 2 mln. With the help of the inn and neighbouring Tsar Boris Hotel, which will also be restored, the American multi-millionaire hopes to give a boost to the rest of the old buildings on Opalchenska street, which are quite neglected. An interesting detail is that all buildings are restored by old photographs and descriptions from the newspapers of those times.

Mitropolit Grigoriy is also planning the restoration of the fallen convent of the Preobrajenski monastery. The building, which was built in the distant 1897, surprisingly collapsed in 2016. At the moment, however, it is still being designed and is yet to be restored. There are a few ideas for the building’s purpose, one of which is for it to become either a boarding house or hotel for church purposes.