Momina salza fountain in Hisarya

Updated: Jun 28

Dear friends of "Photo Moments", while quenching your thirst with healing mineral water from the Colonnade in Hisarya, look to the right.

Momina salza fountain in Hisarya, Bulgaria

You will see this beautiful fountain, located in the middle of beautiful beds, from which sunny flowers will smile at you!

There are benches around the fountain for you to sit on, enjoying another relaxing sunny and magical day.

Music, water splashes, beautiful flowers creating an amazing mood - I made this music video for you all!

Enjoy!

You're probably wondering what this figure of a girl holding a wide tray high above her head depicts? I'll tell you now!

There is a legend about the origin of the name of the spring "Lily's Tear" and this legend is spiritualized precisely through this fountain:

The ruler of Hisarya was the hardened Hasan Bey, whom even Allah could not calculate the injustices.

He always wandered around the neighboring villages, mounted on a thoroughbred horse, not for taxes and robberies, but to find a beauty to fill the place of the elders in his harem. Therefore the women hid from his sight when they heard of his coming.

Only one girl during these years managed to hide from his evil gaze and became a wonderfully beautiful girl. Her relatives were proud of her, but a burden weighed on the hearts of the villagers - lest the accursed Hasan Bey discover her.

The worst has happened!

The Turk saw her, and the very next day he sent his gavaz to bring her to his harem.

A whole village marched out to beg for mercy, many tears and much weeping accompanied her way there. But nothing could cool the hard soul of the ruler. The heart of the young Bulgarian woman was even harder. She said goodbye to life, but decided to hold on to her faith until the end. What did Hassan Bey do to make her fall in love with him? He made promises to her that he had never made to any other woman. He gave her clothes of tinsel and silk, at her feet stood strings of gold and silver. But... nothing helped. She continued not to notice him because her mind and soul belonged to the burn that remained in the village.

Then the Turk decided to take revenge as no one had done before. He invited noble Turks from Filibeto and arranged a sumptuous lunch. When the guests had eaten and drunkenly, the host ordered the maid to be stripped naked, her body to be smeared with gül oil, so that she would come out and carry the tray of sweets.

Those who knew her in the harem and more than once saw how far her pride went, thought that she would not fulfill the master's will. Does she expect to throw herself from the high veranda rather than serve sweets to the guests naked and humiliated? But the young Bulgarian came out with the thick copper tray on her head. Shame gave way to her great malice, for what she had planned had to be done.

She approached Hasan Bey calmly, even smiling a little. The soul of the old Turk relaxed!

"Finally!... Thank you, Allah!..."

"Finally..." he repeated and twisted his thick moustache. "She's out of her mind!"

All the Turks, standing up from their seats and dumbfounded by the indescribable beauty of the maiden's body. They started clucking their tongues. Bey drifted off into his voluptuous thoughts about the coming night...

When the Bulgarian woman came to him, she lifted the heavy tray even higher and with all her might brought it down on his bare head. While the guests shouted and ranted, Hasan Bey went to Allah.

"Let him die the cruelest death!" - they decided in the inn.

One evening, an incredible spectacle took place in the fortress. Even the day before, the Zaptiets built a high chamber with dry wood, and in the middle of it they drove a stake. They brought the Bulgarian woman there to be burned alive.

Gethered everyone.

Before tying her to the beam, the Turks stripped her naked, smeared her body with tar instead of gül water, and set her on fire. Not a cry or a groan was heard. After a while, everyone who watched was speechless. Two clear tears fell from the maiden's eyes, and at that moment a warm spring gushed out from under her feet. She slowly, slowly sank into him.

Since then, this spring has received the name "Lady's Tear".

Many years passed, but the legend of the maiden did not die down, because she was connected to the spring that did not dry up.

The "Momina Salza" fountain was built in 1960 according to the project of Plovdiv architect Georgi Karayanev.

Pay special attention to the beautiful faience mosaic panel covering the bottom of the fountain! It is based on ancient legends and myths and is the work of the famous Bulgarian illustrator, artist and scenographer Nevena (Neva) Tuzsuzova, chief artist of the State Ensemble "Filip Kutev" in the period from 1951 to 1981, and her daughter Anna Tuzsuzova.