The Kazanlak Valley attracted man to settle down here as early as the Neolith Age (VI-V millennium BC). During the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age, life in the settlements continued. The next dwellers in the Valley were the Thracians. During the Thracian era the cultural development in the region went on. The numerous mounds (over 1500) and the excavated remains of Thracian settlements give the scientists reasons to assert that the valley was densely populated. The earliest necropolis from the early Thracian culture was found near the village of Dolno Sahrane. The town of the powerful ruler Seuthes III – Seuthopolis was discovered some 10 km from Kazanlak during the construction of the “Koprinka” Dam. Of particular interest among the finds are the marble slab and an agreement on oath between persons of Thracian and Macedonian origin. This is the first official document of a Thracian ruler ever found in Bulgaria.
The artifacts from the Roman period found in the Valley are also numerous. The first records of rose cultivation also date back to that period. In his treatise “Natural History”, Pliny the Younger lists over 20 sorts of roses. He gives names to some of them by describing their geographic origin and one of the sorts he names Thracian rose. On one of the Thracian coins there is also a rose engraved. German scientists have proved recently that for their sacrifices, even from the time of Orpheus, the Thracians also used rose oil! This is irrefutable evidence for the “rose tradition” in the Kazanlak region.
After the conclusion of the 30 year agreement between khan Omurtag and Byzantine in 815, the Kazanlak region becomes part of the first Bulgarian state. One of the centers of the Second Bulgarian state was the town of Karne (the present day village of Kran). The local despot Eltimir tried to establish an independent fief here after the rule of the Asen dynasty.
Around 1370 Ottoman Turks conquered the region of Kazanlak. Different crafts, such as fur caps making, fur dressing etc., started to develop here. Later on the Noven neighborhood appeared where Bulgarian refugees from Koprivshtitsa, Kalofer, Karlovo and other towns on the south side of the Balkan Mountains and the Srednogorie region came to live. During the Renaissance period there were around 50 crafts in Kazanlak and in the first half of XIX c. the number of masters, apprentices and novices reached 2400. Because of the rose oil production the coppersmith, tinsmith and cooperage trades developed particularly well. Education also flourished. The first cell schools in the region were opened, as well as the first mutual school, connected with the name of Neofit Rilski- a renowned Bulgarian educator during the Ottoman rule. The first community centre – a unique Bulgarian institution – was created in 1860 and community centre “Iskra” was opened in 1873.
Development of Kazanlak after the Liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule
Today Kazanlak is a modern Bulgarian town with well developed industry: machine building, textile, rose oil production and processing, food and tobacco, perfume production, tourism and services.