Best of Street Art in Plovdiv and where to find it

Undoubtedly, it is a challenge to name the best examples of street art in Plovdiv. While some admirers prefer tiny murals, others would get astonished by giant ones. In other words, no matter what you like, it is certain that no one else has exactly the same taste as you. Therefore, since street art, just like any other kind of art, is subjective, we would show you the abundance of pieces in Plovdiv first. Then we will let you choose your own favorites.

Where to find street art in Plovdiv?

Many electrical boxes, shutters, facades, underpasses, cultural buildings, schools and even garbage containers in Plovdiv look quite unusual nowadays. That is thanks to the creativity of many artists. For this reason, these days finding examples of street art in one of Europe’s capitals of Culture for 2019 is just as easy as finding ancient Roman ruins there. To put it differently, they are everywhere! Take a look.

Fortunately, you won’t find much art on ancient walls, instead, visit the so-called Trap district (Kapana in Bulgarian). Kapana supports the local street art scene by hiring street art muralists and graffiti artists. Their job is to bring more colors to the neighborhood.

The Core of Kapana

Speaking of the neighborhood – here is The Core. It is also famous as The Heart of Kapana, where Stern, Rocket01, and many more left a piece of themselves on the walls in the years between 2013 and 2019. As a result, instead of avoiding this place as people did 10 years ago, magically youngsters started hanging out there and began cherishing it as a special local spot. To conclude, this is just a good example of how a bit of refreshment goes a long way.

Peace

Our quest continues on one of the non-pedestrian streets in the same neighborhood. Here lots of parked cars, garbage containers and in general not enough space for the passers-by, create a gloomy atmosphere. However, that doesn’t seem to bother all the kendama players who get together in the exact same area. It is possibly because there is something more than just cars and garbage containers in the background. Namely, The Biggest Mural Composition in Bulgaria. In addition, it was started right there in 2015 and has been upgraded multiple times ever since. The person behind this huge “canvas” is a pioneer of Eastern European graffiti art culture. Also, he is one of the most recognizable street art muralists on the Balkans – Nasimo. Here is the chronological order of his set of small murals. They are all now connected under the name – Мир (Peace).

During his latest exhibition in Plovdiv, the artist revealed to our team that the mural is not yet finished, which certainly sparkles some general excitement in the street art and graffiti community.

The Back of the Drama Theatre

Much smaller than Kapana, the back of Plovdiv Drama Theatre is a secret jewel these days and that’s mainly because of Street Art Fest 2013. As a matter of fact, an amazing team consisting of nine notable street artists from Bulgaria worked for a week in order to turn an ordinary street into a picturesque district. 

Moreover, in 2019, six years since the renovation, it is getting easy to forget that this exact place was once full of tags, political symbols, love letters and many more images you wish were never there. For the most part, it seems like bringing street art to such places can be helpful even when fighting vandalism.

Extraordinary Schools

If the previously- mentioned building is suitable for street art then turning a school into a piece must not be a problem either. In the same fashion, as a part of Street Art Fest again, and other projects dedicated to the transformation of grey spaces into colorful ones, schools like Dimitar Talev, Dr. Petar Beron or St. Sofroniy Vrachanski were all turned into exceptionally- looking ones. In the following images you will see what happened after Pyrotechnix crew, Nasimo, Esteo, Clear Minded, Sve, Tse & Noka, I.A.; MEClick; 140 ideas; L.O.V, Aleksi Ivanov, Vasko Lalov and more, renovated several schools in the last years.

Patriotic Street Art

To continue our Street art “hunt”, we are heading to Hristo Botev Boulevard which is named after one of the most famous revolutionaries in Bulgaria. In addition, the side of the road was turned into a memorial of the great national hero. Furthermore, written next to the portrait, there is a famous line from a poem that the majority of Bulgarians know by heart. It says “He who falls in freedom’s fight, dies not.”

Likewise, right across, you can find more influential Bulgarians portrayed on the walls.

Don’t pass this Underpass

On the first-ever Street Art Fest of Plovdiv, the underpass of Chifte Banya (Old- Time Baths) was sprayed all over and nowadays it is a must-visit for everyone admiring graffiti.

Special Addition to Our Quest

So far we have covered a satisfactory part of the street art in Plovdiv, at least for a beginning. However, we thought that there was something missing- an opinion of somebody with more experience in the field. Therefore, we asked one of the artists who was involved almost everywhere in the post so far. Either as a part of Pyrotechnix Crew or simply as Stern, Dimitar Mehandzhiiski is considerably the most famous street artist in Plovdiv these days. Therefore, we did our best to find out what he thinks about the topic of our article.
“It is very difficult to say what the best of street art in Plovdiv is… It is too subjective, but I will show you my favorites at least.”

We encouraged him to include some of his own pieces too:

Check all the colorful photos in their full size here.

Arts and Crafts Tour

Now it is your turn to go and do your own street art quest in Plovdiv. Nonetheless, if you need help, you are always welcome to join the Arts and Crafts District Тour where you can find out more about the street art culture of Plovdiv. Good luck!