“Shiroka Luka” Village

Shiroka Luka is a village in southern Bulgaria, in the Smolyan district, Smolyan municipality.
It is declared an architectural and folklore reserve. The village got its name from the Old Bulgarian word “lѫka”, meaning “curve, curvature, curving”.
Shiroka Luka is one of the villages where the Rhodope song was born and developed. Many of the most famous singers and pipers of Rhodope folklore were born there. In 1972 a secondary music school for folk songs and instruments was opened.

The village of Shiroka Luka is located in a mountainous area 23 km northwest of Smolyan, 16 km from Pamporovo, 5 km from the village of. Stoykite, 22 km southeast of Devin. Its altitude is 1058 m.
It is situated in the valley of the Shirokolashka River in the Shiroklata Luka locality, between the Perelik section of the Rhodope Mountains and the Chernatitsa Ridge. Around the village are the villages of Gela, Stickal, Solishta and Stoykite.

Shiroka Luka is famous for its authentic Rhodope houses, such as the Zgurovska, Uchikovska and Grigorovska houses.
The village has 2 churches – “Assumption of the Virgin Mary” and “St. Nicholas”.
Among the local landmarks is the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, built in 1834 (according to the legend, erected in only 38 days). The iconostasis of the church is unique in its style. It is supposed to have been painted by the brothers Dimitar and Zachary Zograf from Samokov or by their students. There is also the hypothesis that they themselves painted the church. In its courtyard there is the St. Pantaleimon school, built in 1835 (1888). The whole population of the village took an active part in its construction. It functioned until 1936.
Apart from its remarkable architecture, Shiroka Luka is also famous for its songs, which are accompanied by a cabba bagpipe. The village is home to the National School of Folk Arts, opened as the Secondary Music School for Folk Songs and Instruments in 1972.
The village is among the Hundred National Tourist Sites of the Bulgarian Tourist Union. Printed information about the sites is available in the information centre in the People’s Community Centre “Exarch Stefan I” and in the Ethnographic Museum.