Aromanian settlement in the Pirin Mountains (the southern part) — restoring the cultural heritage of pastoral community (II).

The cultural heritage of the Aromanian (Vlach) shepherds in Bulgaria is still an under- researched topic in the field of contemporary heritology and memory studies. The Aromanians settled there after years of severe persecution perpetrated by the Turks and Albanians at the end of the 18th century. For almost two centuries, Bulgaria was a space where they created their own world, with houses, farms, and places of religious worship They set up a network of herding and trade routes leading to various regions of the Balkans and Europe. The aim of this paper is to explore the remaining traces of the cultural heritage of Aromanian shepherds that can be found in the settlements of southern Pirin in Bulgaria. It presents the main Aromanian mountain villages, former herding routes and preserved cultural heritage. The research is based on the qualitative methodology, including participant observations in the villages of Pirin and interviews with the inhabitants of Bulgarian mountain villages. The research has shown that today’s sparse Aromanian community living in the Bulgarian Pirin Mountains has retained the memory of its roots, as well as a small number of neglected cultural heritage sites. Undoubtedly, places and non-places of this community require description, documentation, and revitalisation.