Botanic Garden

The Bulgarian Botanic Garden of Balchik is located in the centre of the town.
When it comes to history one may be struck by the natural beauty of the area around Balchik, the Romanian Queen Maria built a summer palace and a botanical garden there. This was 8 years after the end of World War I in 1918, when Balchik was annexed to the territory of Romania. Besides the high-towered palace and the surrounding garden, the complex also includes a chapel, which still preserves the queen’s heart just as she had desired, a villa, originally meant to host Romanian aristocrats, and a beatiful stone throne under an old tree where Queen Maria loved to watch the sunset.

The picturesque park, called Tenha Vuva in Romanian (Quiet Nest), was built in 1924-1936 by a French garden designer, Jules Janine. The queen, whose name was poetically changed to Karmen Silva, died in 1938, just 2 years before the area was annexed back to the territory of Bulgaria while the complex was declared a monument of culture.
The complex combines old Bulgarian, Moldavian, Mauritanian and Oriental styles in a extraordinary fashion. The park itself is an imitation of the Famous Cretan labyrinth, with each stone of the church being taken from the very island of Crete. Most people claim that the Garden of Allah is the most beautiful one, though no doubt, the Silver Well, the alleys paved with millstones and the huge earthen jars, brought from Morocco, are also gorgeous.
More than 3,000 rare and exotic plants, including more than 200 tree species, amazing flowers and a unique collection of about 250 cactus species (the latter representing Europe's second most important collection) grow currently in the Bulgarian botanic garden. As a result, it is not surprising that the park was included as a part of the teaching facilities of the Sofia University in 1955. The complex welcomes not only students but also more than half a million tourists per summer season.