In the past, the seat of the Plovdiv Mutesarifs (district governors) was located in the place where the Military Palace is today. The building was known as Konaka. In its vast courtyard stood the stone walls of the sinister Tash Kapia prison, as well as various establishments. There was also the bedelie, i.e. the Municipal Administration of Plovdiv before the Liberation. Instead of the current Saedinenie Square, there was an empty place, among which small houses, shacks, and a dilapidated mosque were scattered.
In the spring of 1878, Governor General Stolipin settled in Konaka. The first municipal council of Plovdiv also met there. In May 1879, the owner of Konaka became Alexander Bogoridi, appointed by the sultan as the governor-general of Eastern Rumelia. He arrived in Plovdiv with his wife and the two asked to make improvements to the "palace", which was actually a one-story gloomy building with modest furnishings. The deputies in the Regional Assembly of Eastern Rumelia categorically refused to recognize such expenses, but still, new construction began - only not in the building, but in the yard in front of it. In 1880, the entire area between today's Saedinenie Square and the Maritsa River was cleared. A magical park was created at this place, which covered an area of 51 decares.
Thus, Plovdiv received one of its wonders - the Knyazheska Garden. Its creator was the Swiss Lucien Chevallaz, who had previously been the gardener of the French King Napoleon III, and from 1875-1876 began to take care of the gardens in the palaces of Sultan Abdul Aziz in Constantinople. Shevalaz arrived in Plovdiv at the request of Knyaz Bogoridi to help arrange a small park near the governor general's palace. Chevalaz was really seduced by the opportunity to direct the construction himself. He was mostly attracted by the idea of outlining the directions for the future of the parks in Plovdiv by connecting the City Garden (Dondukov Garden) at the present Natural History Museum with the Maritsa River.
For a long time, the Knyazheska Garden was closed to visitors. It was not until 1884 that its doors were opened to commoners once a week, and only for four hours. Then the curious walked along the wide avenues filled with fine sand. Sunny meadows strewn with flowers opened before them. Slender trees and bamboo bushes were rising. There were palm trees near the inn. On the side rose a tall greenhouse with a glazed roof, full of beautiful flowers. Students, soldiers, and citizens used the moment to take a photo against the background of the lush trees and colorful figures. In the northern part of the garden was the orchard. The famous white strawberries were also grown here. They were rumored to have been brought from a distant land, but in fact, Lucien Chevalaz discovered them in the village of Verigovo (now Hisar district). Near them were the huge French strawberries, and in the last row, one could smell their fellows from the Rhodope Mountains.
On August 15, 1892, the tables were set in the Knyazheska Garden for the festive dinner given by the Bulgarian Knyaz Ferdinand on the occasion of the opening of the First Bulgarian Exhibition in Plovdiv. It became a tradition to celebrate the Day of the Slavic enlighteners Cyril and Methodius in the courtyard next to the garden. The Epiphany was held on the southern site in front of the inn, and in the northern part, the audience watched the throwing of the cross into the icy waters of the Maritsa River.
The fairy tale ended in 1918 when the garden was handed over to the Ministry of Agriculture. Everyone looked at the garden as a piece of land that needed to be cleared of trees and grass so that it could then be parceled out and sold. Thus, the park was destroyed, although in 1928 the Duke of Württemberg himself and his wife, Knyaginya Nadezhda, told the Bulgarian Tsar Boris III that it was the most beautiful garden that could be seen.
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