Old-Time Street in Tarnovo

The old quarter of Tarnovo that Morozov set down here went up in the 19th century, after Bulgaria threw off Ottoman rule, when merchants and craftsmen built timber upper floors over stone ground floors. Those upper floors lean out on wooden bay windows above a narrow cobbled lane, almost meeting across the street. He made it as a coloured etching, a method that lays down soft, washed tones instead of bright ink, so the tiled roofs and warm plaster keep the mellow, faded look of a place already old when he drew it in 1923. It records a working street of everyday trade. Houses like these still overhang the cobbles of Tarnovo's oldest lanes.