Photo Galleries

The Unification Monument
The Unification Monument This monument in the middle of the Plovdiv Unification Square at the Sixth of September Boulevard, honors the one-hundredth anniversary of Bulgarias re-unification in 1885.  After the Russo-Turkish War, liberating Bulgaria from five centuries of Ottoman rule, the 1878 Berlin Peace Treaty separated Bulgaria into two independent regions (countries). The northern half of todays territory, was named Principality of Bulgaria (under the rule of a Knjaz, i.e. Prince), with Sofia as a capital city; while the southern half was named Eastern Roumelia (under the rule of a Governor, the first one being the eminent Bulgarian Aleko Bogoridi), with Plovdiv as a capital city.The Unification monument depicts the Mother-Country with the laurel wreath of victory stretched high in her hands, with her two wings, representing the two regions brought together, ready for the coming 20th century.

The Liberators Monument
The Monument of the LiberatorsThe Monument was built on the Bounardzhik Tepe hill, in the autumn of 1881,  based on the design of the Russian architect Vohkar. It is in the form of a truncated pyramid, and is built in the glory of the soldiers, who had taken part in the three-day fighting for the liberation of Plovdiv (1878), under the command of the Russian General Gourko.

Bratska Mogila Monument
Bratska Mogila MonumentThe monument Bratska Mogila (the BG for Brotherly Tomb, meaning The Common Grave) is a memorial to symbolize nations gratitude to the thousands of heroes who devoted themselves and gave their lives for the freedom of the motherland from the Turkish yoke.In the base of Monument Bratska Mogila are a number of sculptures depicting Bulgarias liberation from the Turkish yoke in 1878. A large walking area surrounds the monument. This monument is at the west end of Svoboda Boulevard, situated in a beautiful park.

Kocho Chestimenski Mon.
Kocho Chestimenski Mon.The memorial of Kocho Chestimenski - who took the lives of his family and his own, inside a church attacked by the Turks, in the Rhodope mountain town of Perushtitza. A Plovdiv shoemaker, he burnt his workshop and together with his family left for Perushtitza to join the April Uprising against the Turks (April, 1876). The uprising was brutally supressed, and the two neibouring towns of Perushtitza and Batak were literary drowned in a sea of blood. Uprising participants and whole families were all brutally slaughtered. Seeing that his family would fall in the hands of the Turks, Kocho Chestimenski decided to kill them all himself rather than let them surrender alive.The monument of that great Bulgarian stands in a small garden in the Sixth of September Blvd.

Paissii Hilendarski Mon.
The Monument of Paissii Hilendarski - in front the Paissii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv. During the nearly 500 years of the Ottoman rule,Bulgarias national customs and values were preserved in the monasteries and in mountain villages isolated from Turkish influence.  In 1762 Paisii Hilendarski, a Bulgarian monk of the Hilendar Monastery on Mt Athos, used medieval texts to prepare a history of his people - the book Slavonic-Bulgarian History, calling on them to remember their past and former greatness. It profoundly influenced Bulgarian learning of that period - that historic writing pushed Bulgarian people into national identity awareness. Paisiis History has been regarded as the beginning of the National Revival, that was marked by the rapid expansion of Bulgarian schools and by the achievement of an independent Bulgarian Orthodox Exarchate in 1870. Six years later, in 1876, Bulgarian revolutionaries launched the April Uprising, whose brutal suppression created outrage in Europe and helped to provoke the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78.  

Welcome to the Old Town
A stylish welcome to the Old Town - in the form of an ancient coin, a present from the German-Bulgarian Society of Saxonia-Anhalt.

Gyuro Mikhailov Monument
The Monument of Gyuro MikhailovThe monument of Gyuro Mikhailov at the Plovdivs Central Square - stands as a synonym of a man doing his duties right to the end, even if people consider such devotion pointless. This Bulgarian soldier stood his post and died in the fire sweeping the building he guarded. The monument is a work of  Prof. Nickola Kozhouharov - one of the leading figures in Bulgarian Fine Arts. The monument is situated in the eastern part of Tsar Simeons Garden (i.e. The Central Garden), right next to the Army Club on the Central Square.

The Momotaro Mon.
The Monument of the legendary Japanese folk-tales  hero Momotaro.This monument in the Central Garden is a tribute to the sister-city relationship between Plovdiv and Okayama, Japan.  This is a relationship spanning the past 30-years.  It is believed that Okayama is the birthplace of the legendary hero Momotaro. The legend says that a baby, born in a peach, has been adopted by a childless couple and they named him Momotaro, which means Peachy. Momotaro and his friends - a dog, a monkey and a pheasant - fought and drove away the monsters that lived on the Ogre Island.

The Beatified Priests Mon
During his visit to Plovdiv in May 2002, Pope John Paul II declared three Bulgarian martyr priests as beatific. The three Catholic priests, Kamen Vitchev (born in 1893), Pavel Dzhidzhov (born in 1919) and Josaphat Shishkov born in (1884), were executed by the communists in 1952.  The pontiff officially announced the beatifications - the last step before raising someone to sainthood - during his visit to Plovdiv.

Kamen Vitchev Monument
The Monument of Father Kamen Vitchev (one of the three Bulgarian martyr priests, declared as beatific by Pope John Paul II) - at the Maria Louisa Boulevard .

Jewish Community Monument
Jewish Community MonumentThis monument stands not far from the northeast corner of the Sixth of SeptemberBlvd and Russki Blvd. The inscription, in Hebrew, English and Bulgarian says:To all who helped saving us on March 10 , 1943.From the grateful Jewish Community of Plovdiv(Bulgarias wartime government refused to hand over its 50,000 Jewish citizens to the Nazis in 1943).

Ivan Vazov Monument
The monument of Ivan Vazov (1850-1921) - in a park across the street from the Plovdiv house he worked in. The house he once lived in, at an adjacent street, no longer exists. Ivan Vazov - a great Bulgarian writer, poet, and publicist during the time of the Bulgarian Revival. Vazov was author of Under The Yoke. For more than fifty years Ivan Vazov was the most prominent figure in Bulgarian literature after the Liberation. He was a poet who considered the social mission of literature as an organic part of the nations life and fate. His view of the Bulgarian national character had an enormous impact, and to this day his works remain an invaluable treasure of Bulgarian cultural history.Vazov is considered the Patriarch of Bulgarian Literature, since he set the highest standards for future generations of writers. Vazov was in fact the founder of all the literary genres employed by modern Bulgarian literature. His wide-ranging works are brilliant manifestation of his artistic creativity. Partly because of his love to his homeland, its freedom and its nature, and his ability to incorporate into his works Bulgarias traditions, history, morality, and national spirit - Vazov has come to be regarded as Bulgarias national poet. 

The house Vazov worked in
The house where Ivan Vazov (a great Bulgarian writer and poet) worked in the period 1880-1885 - you can see the memorial plate at the front.  Now the house is a property of the Plovdiv Municipality.

Zachary Stoyanov Monument
The Monument of Zachary Stoyanov - located just behind the Museum of Natural Sciences in Plovdiv.A monument to Zachary Stoyanov, a Bulgarian teacher and author, who wrote the great Bulgarian novel Notes on the Bulgarian Uprisings (1870-1876)

Stefan Stambolov Monument
The Monument of Stefan Stambolov - at a corner on the Main Street, almost in front of the Municipal Building, at the Stefan Stambolov Square.Stefan Stambolov became Bulgarian Prime Minister following the Re-Unification of Bulgaria in 1885 and was known as a strong-handed ruler. Of all post-liberation Bulgarian statesmen, Stambolov seems to be the most enthusiastically praised and the most violently denounced politician - which is a perfect proof for his extraordinary personality.Stambolov actively supported the Unification of the Principality of Bulgaria with Eastern Rumelia, in the autumn of 1885. And when the Bulgarians were called to defend their homeland in the war with Serbia, Stambolov, who was then the Chairman of the National Assembly, put on the soldiers uniform himself.

Tsar Simeons Garden
Tsar Simeons Garden (the Central Garden) - the fountain built by the Italian architect Arnoldo Zocci .The construction of the todays most famous Povdiv park is closely connected with the name of the Swiss gardener Lucien Schevallas, working at the end of the 19th century as a court gardener to Soultan Abdul Azis. Schevallas arrived in Plovdiv at the invitation of the Eastern Roumellia Chief Governor - Aleko Bogoridi. At the end of 1891, the area of about 70 decares, where the first Bulgarian Fair was to be built, was levelled away and cleared of garbage and bushes. At first, Schevallas put in the seeds of grass, then he planted the trees, and finally made the terraces, the lakes and the fountains.He bestowed special care on the big lake, which replaced the marshland existing there . In the eastern part of the park, an exquisite fountain with a statue was built, a work of the famous Italian sculptor Arnoldo Zocci. This is the only relic of the fair, remaining to this day in the Park. 

Sasho Sladura Monument
One of Plovdivs special monuments - the monument of Sasho SladuraThe inscription says: In memory of Sasho Sladura (1916-1961) and all the cultural figures who perished under the Communist regime (1944-1989).The musician Sasho Nikolov (nick-named Sladura, meaning Honey-boy in English) used to play in jazz bands, such as Ovcharov and The Optimists. The  repertoire of these bands, as many others as well, was strictly censured by the authorities and jazz music was persecuted as dangerous to communist society. That was an exptremely sad period for Bulgarian pop and jazz music - some musicians were interned to distant towns but Sasho was sent to the Belene concentration camp, where he died at 45.

Georgi Rakovski Monument
The Monument of Georgi Sava RakovskiThe beginning of the organized revolutionary movement for liberation from the Ottoman rule was set by the writer and publicist, founder and ideologist of the national-liberation movement Georgi Sava Rakovski (1821 – 1867). Rakovski was one of the leaders in the Bulgarian struggle for independence from the Turks. In 1862 he organized the First Bulgarian Armed Legion in Belgrade, then he travelled around Europe to gain support for the Bulgarian cause. His radical views were opposed by more moderate groups in Bulgaria, but his poetry and his journalistic contributions were largely supported by the younger generation in their struggle against the Turks.

Naiden Gerov Monument
The Monument of Naiden Gerov (1823 – 1900) - a lexicologist, writer, folklorist and a member of the Bulgarian Literary Society.Naiden Gerov was born in Koprivshtitsa - the town, which had been a center of a keen Bulgarian spirit, a native town of Luben Karavelov and many other progressive and intelligent people. In 1850 the well-known enlightener established a class school in Plovdiv - later Vazov worked as a young teacher at Naiden Gerovs school (there Vazov made his first steps as a poet).  Naiden Gerov organized the first celebration of May 24th, 1851, as the Day of the the Sts Cyril and Methodius, to honour the achievements of Bulgarian language and culture. Naiden Gerov was the author of  a multi-volume dictionary (1895 – 1904) of the Bulgarian language.

Olga Skobeleva Monument
The Monument of Olga SkobelevaDuring the Russo-Turkish War (1877-8) the mother of the famous Russian General Skobelev, commanding the epic battles for the liberation of the town of Pleven, Olga was head of a military infirmary. Thanks to her, the first orphanage opened in Plovdiv, giving shelter to nearly two hundred orphan-children from Thrace region, whose parents had perished in the April Uprishing and the Russo-Turkish War.  Immediately after the war, Olga Skobeleva returned to Bulgaria - already as a representative of the Russian Red Cross - and organised orphanages, schools, and hospitals in various towns of the country.  On July 6, 1880, she started for the town of Chirpan, having on her a big sum of the money for charity purposes. In the outskirts of Plovdiv, Olga Skobeleva was attacked from an ambush and brutally murdered. In 1965, the statue of a mother embracing two children was erected at the place where she died.

Vasil Petleshkov Monument
The Monument of Vasil Petleshkov (1845-1876)He was the leader (the so called Apostle) of the 1876 April Uprising in the Rhodope mountain town of Bratzigovo - he was the one to declare the start of the Uprising there. After the brutal supression of the Uprising, he was caught by the Turks alive.He was put in burning flames during the interrogation but when asked about his fellow-companions his only words were: If theres any guilt - it is only mine. It is only me and noone else.  He never broke. His severely burnt body was dragged outside Bratzigovo where he was stabbed to death by the Turkish soldiers bayonets, and left there. His body was buried by his fellow townsmen on the next day, May 9th, 1876. 

Vassil Levski Monument
The Monument of Vassil LevskiIt is situated in the park on the Bunardzhik Tepe (the hill with the Alyosha monument on the top). Its author is the famous scluptor Prof. Ivan Lazarov, a fellow-townsman of the great Bulgarian revolutionary - in the year 1942. Vassil Levski (1837-1873), ideologist and organizer, and  the greatest figure of the Bulgarian National Revolutionary movement and  the National uprising, the founder of the Internal Revolutionary Organization and the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee.  Born in Karlovo (1837), his true name is Vassil Ivanov Kunchev. Once a monk, later a deacon (1859), he became influenced by the ideals of G.S.Rakovski and he joined the struggles for national identity and independence by becoming a member of the Rakovski’s First Bulgarian Legion in Belgrade (1862). Due to his braveness and heroism, he was named Levski (the word “lev” is the Bulgarian for “lion”).  He later took part in battles for the  liberation of Romania, and was a member of various Bulgarian revolutionary detachments, fighting for the freedom of Bulgaria - the bitter outcome of which fights only leading him to the idea of the necessity to establish a well-organized network of revolutionary committees.  He spent the  years 1868-1872 crossing Bulgaria south and north, creating an outstanding revolutionary organization. He was finally betrayed by a fellow revolutionary, caught by the Turkish police, sentenced to death and hanged in Sofia (today, there stands the Levski Monument at that place).

Christo Botev Monument
The Monument of Christo BotevChristo Botev (1848-1876), Bulgarian writer and freedom fighter, educated in Russia. Botev was a member of the Bulgarian Liberation Committee in Bessarabia and worked as journalist in Braila, Romania. His collected patriotic poems was published in Bucharest in 1875, and had major political impact. He also wrote sad lyric love poems. During the April Uprising in 1876, Botev hijacked an Austrian steam-boat and crossed the Danube with his cheta (a revolutionary detachment) of 200 men, Bulgarian immigrants to Romania. The group fought approximately 20 km southwards inside Bulgaria, before they were surrounded and neutralized by Ottoman forces on June 2nd, 1876. Botev died in that battle. Botev is honoured as Bulgarias national poet. Here is the most famous stanza that everyone associates with the beauty of the Botevs poetry:              The moon comes out and day grows dim,          on heavens vault the stars now throng,          the forest rustles, quiet stirs the wind,          the mountains sing an outlaw song. 

Captain Bourago Monument
Captain Bourago MonumentCaptain Bourago Monument  is situated in the old Plovdiv park, once known as Dondukovsky park. The monument of capitain Bourago is a work of the Plovdiv sculptor Victor Todorov.Captain Alexander Petrovich Bourago is the brave Russian officer, who in the night of January 4, 1878 led his cavalry squadron through the icy waters of the river Maritza, and prevented the withdrawing Turkish troops from setting a fire to the town.The town escaped being set on fire, and the General Gourko's victory over the last fighting-efficient army of the Sultan Syuleyman Pasha sets the later outcome of the Russo-Turkish War.

Anthon Bezenshek Mon.
Anthon Bezenshek Mon.The monument of Anthon Bezenshek, the father of Bulgarian stenography (1854-1915)After the Liberation from the Ottoman rule (1878), the new Bulgarian government invited the Slovenian specialist in shorthand Anthon Bezenshek - to write down the stenographic records in the Parliament, and also to teach and popularize shorthand writing. Bezenshek was also a teacher at the Plovdiv Male Secondary School.

Bulgarian Fathers Mon.
The monument dedicated to all Bulgarian fathers who lost their lives in the Wars (1912-3, 1916-8). The monument stands in the yard of the Maria Louisa Orphanage, Plovdiv.

Peyo Yavorov Monument
The eminent Bulgarian poet, author of revolutionary and also of incredibly tender love poetry - Peyo Yavorov, was born in the small town of Chirpan (some 30 km away from Plovdiv) on Jan.1st, 1878. His real name was Peyo Totev Kracholov.An ardent advocate of the idea for the Macedonian liberation, he was at first an editor of various newspapers and magazines connected and dedicated to that idea, but later he became a revolutionary, himself fighting for what he believed in. A close friend and companian of the eminent leader of the Macedonian Liberation movement - Gotze Delchev, Yavorov was also his very first biographer. He was also one of the most eminent advocates of the Armenian cause (dozens of thousands of families were driven away from their homeland by the Ottoman Turks, and 50,000 of which came to Bulgaria) and dedicated one of his loveliest poems to the sufferings of those people.Later, when living in Sofia, Yavorov entered the circle of some of the greatest Bulgarian intellectuals from the turn of the 20th century. Being close to Dr Krastev and Pencho Slaveykov, Yavorov became the editor of the best literary magazine of that time - the Thought Magazine.Yavorov was also notorious for his tragic private life - first in love with the tender and vulnerable Mina Todorova, he later married the ardent and jealosy-stricken Lora Karavelova. When in Nov.1913, after a tragic quarrel, Lora shot herself, Yavorov also attempted a suicide but the shot in his temple only blinded him.  Crushed by the followed trial and the rumour that he was supposedly Loras murderer, almost a year later - on October 29th, 1914, Yavorov swallowed a large amount of poison to make sure he would not survive again, and shot himself to death.There is a symbol in the Bulgarian literary consciousness immidiately provoked when Yavorovs name is mentioned - that of the Two pretty eyes. The poem with the same title, dedicated to Lora, has always been highly praised by the literary critics for its mirror composition and it is unquestionably one of Bulgarian poetic masterpieces:              Two lovely eyes.The spirit of a child.              Two lovely eyes. Sunrays and music.              They dont want anything, and they dont vow.              My soul is praying.              Child!              My soul is praying...

Dusho Hadjidekov Monument
Dusho Hadjidekov (1827-1878) , a member of the Revolutionary Committee that Vassil Levski had created in 1869.After the brutal supression of the 1876 April Uprising , he was thrown in the Tash Kapia dungeon. On January 4th 1878, just hours before the liberation of Plovdiv, Dusho Hadjidekov, together with another 122 Bulgarian prisoners, were taken out of the dungeon and killed by the Turkish soldiers.

Dusho Hadjidekov Monument
On January 4th 1878, when the Russian liberators were already entering Plovdiv led by Capitain Bourago, the brutal Turkish inofficial army, called the Bashi-bouzuk, led out 123 Bulgarian patriots of the Tash Kapia dungeon, and killed all of them at that place. This cross with the memorial plate is standing today as a respect to all the 123 victims, who dreamt of seeing their homeland free.  Dusho Hadjidekov, an eminent Plovdiv merchant and donor, who fought against the Turkish oppression and was imprisoned in that dungeon, was also amidst those victims.

Nikola Yonkov Vaptsarov
The Monument of Nikola Yonkov Vaptsarov (1909-1942)Nikola Yonkov Vaptsarov was born on 7 December 1909 in the town of Bansko. Shot on 23 July 1942, in Sofia. He is one of the most prominent proletarian poets. His most famous book of poems is called Motor Verses.

Nikola Yionkov Vaptsarov
“But in the storm we’ll be with you,   My people, for we loved you so.”   2 p.m. – 23 July 1942

Philip II
Philip II The Contestable

Gyuro Mikhailov MonumentThe Monument of Gyuro MikhailovThe monument of Gyuro Mikhailov at the Plovdivs Central Square - stands as a synonym of a man doing his duties right to the end, even if people consider such devotion pointless. This Bulgarian soldier stood his post and died in the fire sweeping the building he guarded. The monument is a work of  Prof. Nickola Kozhouharov - one of the leading figures in Bulgarian Fine Arts. The monument is situated in the eastern part of Tsar Simeons Garden (i.e. The Central Garden), right next to the Army Club on the Central Square.