From Gorna Oryahovitsa we head to the city of museums – Pleven. Pleven is the seventh largest city in Bulgaria and is a famous tourist centre. The city has many cultural and historical attractions, many of them related to the Russian-Turkish Liberation War. In the centre of the city, near the main pedestrian street and next to the water cascade, is located the next site of our route - Art Gallery Donation "Kolektsiya Svetlin Rusev".

The gallery is located in an iconic building with extraordinary architecture – the old bathhouse. The built-up area of the building amounts to 900 sq.m, and its very unusual architecture is strongly influenced by the Arab one. The façade of the building is formed of white and red rows with oriental and Moorish elements. The construction of the bathhouse began in 1905 and is associated with many peripeteia . The need to build a modern public bathhouse at a time when the citizens did not have water in their homes was undeniable, but the implementation exceeded the capacity of the Municipality and the supply of the site with water. The construction sparked great discussions and became a real challenge for the then Mayor Todor Tabakov. Despite all the difficulties, the building was completed in March 1908. Later, the building was renovated mainly and redeveloped for the needs of a painting gallery. The old bathhouse is an architectural monument of culture of national importance.  

The initial fund of the Art Gallery Donation "Kolektsiya Svetlin Rusev" was formed after Svetlin Rusev donated 322 works to his hometown of Pleven in 1984 – paintings and sculptures from his own collection. Svetlin Rusev is a world-renowned artist, publicist, art collector, academician of BAS and Member of the National Assembly. The gallery opened on July 12, 1984. The gallery's fund was supplemented in 1999, when Prof. Svetlin Rusev donated 82 more pieces of graphic works to contemporary Bulgarian masters of drawing and graphics and European masters from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The works are arranged personally by Svetlin Rusev in a order that presents them and divides them chronologically and thematically.

In the gallery you can enjoy works by Vladimir Dimitrov - Maystora, watercolors by Ilya Beshkov, works from the early and late period of Zlatyu Boyadzhiev, paintings by Dechko Uzunov, works by the donor of the gallery – Prof. Svetlin Rusev (only 3). A small part of the gallery in the dome is given to Eugene Delacroix, Francisco Goya, Jean-François Millet, Kete Kolwitz, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dali, Picasso, Auguste Rodin, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Among the most valuable exhibits we offer to your attention are:

• "Vanga" (1990), painting by Svetlin Rusev
• "Young Woman" (1943), painting by Dechko Uzunov
• "Before a Storm" (1920), painting by Zlatyu Boyadzhiev
• "Sofia – Winter" (1907), painting by Nikola Petrov
• Icon "Saints Constantine and Helena " St. 17-18 p.m.