7 Best Sights in Vidin, Bulgaria

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We've compiled the best of the best in Vidin - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.

Art Gallery Nikola Petrov

Housed in a beautiful neoclassical building from 1892 (the former Military Club), this gallery is named for local painter Nikola Petrov. Most of the works on display are from Bulgarian artists but there are a few works from foreign graphic artists, painters, and sculptors. The gallery, which is just off Danube Park and a few blocks from the river, has a nicely tended courtyard in which you'll find a monument to Petrov and a few stone sculptures.

Baba Vida Fortress

On the banks of the Danube is this well-preserved medieval fortress, which dates back to the 10th century and was a defensive stronghold though the Middle Ages. It was captured by the Ottomans and used as storage space for food and munitions and, after liberation in 1878, was used by the Bulgarian army. It opened as a museum in the mid 1950s and is today a popular spot for filming. From the tops of the towers and the walls, take in panoramic views of the Danube River and surrounding cityscape. This is a good place to pick up a few postcards.

Central Market

The perfect place to take in the local color and try some of the traditional street snacks. Be on the lookout for dyuner (döner kebabs), flaky byurek (börek), a phyllo dough pastry filled with white cheese, and the similar banitsa, a scrumptious treat made by baking phyllo dough layered with whisked eggs and cheese. You can also find kebapche, which looks similar to a sausage but is made of minced pork and beef and rolled into its shape and then grilled.

Corner of Ul. Alexander Stamboliiski and Ul. Pazarska, Vidin, 3700, Bulgaria

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Osman Pazvantoglu Mosque and Library

Built by an Osman Pazvantoglu, an Ottoman soldier who rebelled against them and became governor of Vidin, this mosque and library date from 1800. The small square library is made of stone with a metal dome and was dedicated to Pazvantoglu's late mother. The high-ceilinged mosque is also made of stone and filled with carved wooden furniture, with a wooden balcony for women. There is some debate about to whom the mosque is dedicated; some say it's to Pazvantoglu's late father, but others say it's to his lover, a Bulgarian Christian. Anyone is welcome to visit and take photographs, and there's a small area where books are sold. Women should cover their heads.

Sveti Dimitar (Church of St. Dimitrius)

Vidin’s main cathedral is an Orthodox Christian church and an important house of workshop for locals. While the original late-17th-century structure was wooden, what you see today is made of stone and was built between 1885 and 1926. Sveti Dimitar is believed to be Bulgaria's second largest church; its central dome is 33 meters tall. The church has undergone some restoration to its icons and frescoes, which are in good condition.

Vidin Historical Museum

This museum has a main building and two outposts. Start at the Ul. Tsar Simeon Veliki museum to get your ticket, see its collection of more than 3,000 ancient coins and learn about Bulgaria from the 19th century to the present. One outpost is the Konaka Museum (Ul. Obshtinska 2, +359–94–601–713), housed in an 18th-century Turkish police station. The exhibition here covers Bulgarian history up to the 19th century and on display are a slew of antiquities ranging from ceramic and clay pieces to gold jewelry. The Historical Museum's second outpost is the Krastata Kazarma (Ul. Knyaz Boris 26, +395–94–601–709), a two-story military barrack built in 1801 for the Ottoman army. Today it's where the museum's ethnography exhibits are held, showcasing a collection of 19th-century and early 20th-century objects such as fine filigree hairpins. Combo ticket for the museum and Baba Vida Fortress are 5 leva.

Vidin Synagogue

There are fewer than 1,000 Jews living in Bulgaria now, and most of them in Sofia, but at one time Vidin had a sizeable Jewish population who came mostly from Spain in the late 15th century. This neo-Gothic synagogue opened in 1894 and at the time was considered a very grand structure, with stained-glass windows and intricate stonework. The then-Communist government seized the building during WWII and began restoration in 1983, until the collapse of the regime government left the synagogue without a roof. Though there's been talk by the Ministry of Culture of repairing the synagogue and turning it into a museum, the site remains an abandoned ruin. Though it's a shell of the grand building it once was, it remains a small but important slice of Vidin's history.

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