Koprivshtitsa

a city in Bulgaria, in the district of Sofia. It is picturesquely situated in an intermontane depression on the Topolnitsa River. Founded in the 14th century, Koprivshtitsa became the cultural center of the Bulgarian renaissance in the 19th century. It was one of the centers for the national liberation and antifeudal April Uprising of 1876. Numerous monuments of 17th-,18th-, and 19th-century national architecture have been preserved, including stone and wooden dwellings with carved ceilings and galleries and with paintings on the exterior and interior. These dwellings include the Pavlikianskii (17th century), Kableshkov (1845), and Liutov (1854) houses. Also in Koprivshtitsa is the Church of Our Lady (1817), with wall paintings by Z. Zograf. Since 1952, Koprivshtitsa has been a museum city.