A walk through iconic places linked to great Bulgarian writers and their vision of the city under the hills

 

Plovdiv has been a subject of literary depiction since the Middle Ages, primarily in the travelogues  during that time. After 1878, due to the concentration of Bulgarian literary life in the capital of Eastern Rumelia, all active writers, publishers, and booksellers were based here. Even during these years, places from the Plovdiv landscape became literary landmarks in the works of Ivan Vazov, Konstantin Velichkov, and others. Even after the capital of unified Bulgaria moved to Sofia, Plovdiv remained a favorite place for gatherings and lectures by all major poets and writers, who continued to be inspired by the spirit and atmosphere of the city under the hills.

Our guide for the literary tour, organized by Lettera Publisher as part of the event "Spiritual Routes in Plovdiv", is Associate Professor Dr. Mladen Vlashki. The starting point is the Seventh Hill, a symbolic center of the city not only in the past but also today. It is a hill of spirituality, artistry, memory, the joy of life, the pleasure of beauty, and the talent to live and create art. It is located in the "triangle" of landmarks significant to our national culture—the Roman Stadium, the entrance to Old Plovdiv, and Dzhumaya Mosque. Just a few steps from the entrance of the Old Town is the museum of Hristo G. Danov, the reformer of Bulgaria’s modern educational system and the father of Bulgarian publishing. The current appearance of the site is based on a project by Plovdiv artist Atanas Khranov, featuring the garden in the center covered with cobblestones in concentric circles. Between them, cast-iron letters and blocks inscribe the names of prominent Bulgarian authors who worked in Plovdiv, and excerpts from their works created here.

Another iconic place associated with Bulgarian literature in Plovdiv is undoubtedly the famous Crystal Café, which today houses a well-known rock bar. It was a gathering spot for the Plovdiv bohemian circle and a favorite location for many well-known writers and artists. At that time, the so-called "napkin poetry" was particularly popular, with writers playfully teasing each other through verse, often with quite spicy humor. Notable representatives were the humorist Zdravko Popov and his friend and colleague Konstantin Pavlov.

Photo: Dimitra Lefterova

One of the greatest novels in Bulgarian literature is also connected to Plovdiv. This novel has brought its author international fame. Tobacco was written in Plovdiv. As an associate professor of anatomy and physiology of domestic animals at the Faculty of Agronomy, Dimitar Dimov lived in several places in the city—at the National High school of Commerce, where the faculty was initially located, at the so-called Crafts School (today the Vocational School of Interior Architecture and Woodworking), and briefly at 14 ‘Antim I’ Street. In this environment of wealthy people, matinées, soirées, major business meetings, and dramatic turns, Dimitar Dimov found some of the prototypes and ideas for his novel, gathering inspiration from the tobacco warehouses and the people who worked there.

An interesting fact is that at the same time, Lyuben Stanev, a Plovdiv writer and doctor, was also preparing a book about the tobacco industry. However, after exchanging experiences with Dimitar Dimov, he eventually abandoned this idea.

Our walk stops in front of the Dondukov Garden, which falls within a significant area tied to the development of modern Bulgarian literature after the Liberation. At that time, this was the city center. The Regional Natural History Museum  housed the town hall, and just a few steps down, we see the house of Dragan Manchov, which now serves as the office of  Plovdiv’s  Central District Municipality. In this building, Ivan Vazov edited Bulgaria’s first magazine, Science, and it is likely that the odes from Epic of the Forgotten were conceived here.

Vazov himself, known as the patriarch of Bulgarian literature, bought a house nearby, on what is now ‘Beethoven Street’, which he immortalized in a poem of his.

Together with Konstantin Velichkov, Vazov also prepared the famous Bulgarian Chrestomathy, initially intended as a literature textbook. However, it far exceeded this purpose and became a model for numerous genres of world literary art, laying the foundations of modern Bulgarian literature.

We concluded the first part of our tour in front of the building of today’s "St. Cyril and St. Methodius" High School of Humanities, which is inseparably linked to the educational work in the city under the hills. Over the years, it has been the birthplace of people who have led Bulgaria forward, with many great Bulgarians such as Vasil Levski, Ivan Vazov, Pencho Slaveykov, Lyuben Karavelov, and many others among its former students, whom we will continue to discuss in the next part.