Към историята на българското читалище в Крайова през Възраждането
To the History of the Bulgarian Cultural Center in Craiova during the National Revival

Summary/Abstract: In the 19th century Romanian city Craiova existed one of the most numerous Bulgarian immigrant communities north of the Danube. Over time a significant part of the local Bulgarians were actually assimilated by the surrounding Romanian environment to a great extent. Therefore they failed to establish their own church, school, and other periodicals. In the 60s and 70s of the 19th century, when the Bulgarian national cultural and political revival deploys and reinforces, some awaked Bulgarian emigrants in Craiova launch initiative to create a Bulgarian library. Strong impulses they receive from the great Bulgarian patriot Georgi Rakovski, who in 1865 granted a special flyer inviting his compatriots to keep nationhood and to establish their cultural national institutions including a Cultural Community Center. An incentive in this direction was the idea of celebrating the day of Slavonic apostles Cyril and Methodius – 11 May as a public holiday. Among the most ardent supporters and donors, who founded the Bulgarian Cultural Center in Craiova in May 1871 were the brothers Danilov Hadzhi Dimitar Zenovski, Stefan Beron, Ilia Atsovits, Vladimir Ranov and many others. The new Cultural Community Center called “Zora” put his large and ambitious task – to create a library and to support Bulgarian literature, to establish a Bulgarian school, to build a Bulgarian church and so on. Through the years of revolutionary upsurge during 1875-1876 the Cultural Community Center actively supported the liberation struggle. Although it failed, for various reasons, to achieve the great goals, which the founders set for themselves when it was formed; the Cultural Community Center “Zora” is beneficial for the Bulgarian national Diaspora in Craiova in the 70s of the 19th century.

• Details
• Contents