In the border Rhodope villages along the road from Ivaylovgrad to Greece, where houses are crumbling and falling into ruin, churches remain as guardians of the memory of the past. The villages of Svirachi, Mandritsa, Dolno Lukovo, and Gorno Lukovo were once inhabited by Greeks, Albanians, and Bulgarian refugees, and flourished thanks to animal husbandry, trade, and tobacco cultivation. Despite the depopulation, the imposing stone and brick temples, some dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries, continue to preserve precious icons and bear witness to the former prosperity and cultural richness of these border regions.