The rich collection of the “Ivan Vazov” house-museum recalls the most important periods of the writer’s life: from his childhood in Sopot, where he completed his primary and secondary education, his work as an assistant teacher in Kalofer under the teacher Botjo Petkov , as well as his studies at the Diocesan School in Plovdiv under Joakim Gruev.
The exhibited manuscripts represent his rich literary work, created in 1876-1877, when he was an emigrant in Romania and published his first collections of poems: “Priaporets and Gusla” and “The Sorrows of Bulgaria”, and especially from his most beneficial Plovdiv period, when he published the poetry collections “Gusla”, “Fields and Forests” with “The Epic of the Forgotten”, the short stories “Mitrofan and Dormidolski”, “Nemili-nedragi” and “Chichovtsi”, as well and stories.
The time of his stay in Odessa, again as an emigrant, is also recalled, where he began to write the most translated Bulgarian novel “Under the Yoke”. It is known that since 1889, Ivan Vazov settled in Sofia, where he created the magazine “Dennitsa”, “Draski i sharki”, “Paster svyat”, the novels “New Land” and “Kazalarska Tsaritsa”, the poetry collections “Skitnishki pesni”, ” Under our sky”, “Legends at Tsarevets”, “Under the thunder of victories”, “Songs for Macedonia”, “New echoes”, “Yulska kitka”, “My pipe smells” and “It will not perish”.
As is known, Vazov left this world on September 22, 1921, loved by the entire nation – a rare phenomenon in our history. His works have been translated into more than 50 languages and have been traveling around the world since the 19th century.
The great poet’s literary achievements overshadow his outstanding contributions to Bulgarian tourism. Long before 1895, when the first organized ascent of Cherni vrah was carried out, Ivan Vazov together with a group of the then elite of Sofia from Knyazhevo reached the Vitoshka peak via the Golden Bridges. But he visited and described not only this mountain, but also Rila, the Rhodopes, Sredna gora, Viskyar and a number of other paradise corners.
We will only quote what he shared after a visit to Switzerland: “I have traveled through Switzerland, I have seen the Alps with their blue lakes and the eternal glaciers of their hammers, raising their foreheads unfathomably to the heavens. This nature is foreign to me, and I am a foreigner to it. I have admired it, but I have not loved it. And Bulgaria? Everything is native to me, close to my heart and soul. Every grove, valley, rock, peak speaks to me in a language I understand, I feel that they are mine, our Bulgarians, and I I am theirs, almost flesh of their flesh, one air and one sun have joined us. Every beauty of hers is so dear to me, every majesty of hers is greater than me and makes me proud.”
It is no coincidence that the initiative of the Bulgarian National Television “The Great Reading” held in 2009, which aimed to discover the favorite novel of Bulgarians, determined “Under the Yoke” by Ivan Vazov as the undisputed favorite. It turned out that despite skepticism and foreign pilgrimage, the feeling of national belonging among Bulgarians has not dried up, but is alive and vibrant. Time, that most authoritative judge, has proved incontrovertibly that the poet, rightly titled as PEOPLE, had the right to write the proud but true words: “And my songs will still be read!”
Summer opening hours:
Monday – Saturday: 09:00 – 17:00
Sunday: 09:00 – 17:00
Winter opening hours:
Monday – Saturday: 8:30 – 16:45
Sunday: 09:00 – 16:00 45
Entrance fees:
For a visit to each individual site, pupils, students and pensioners – BGN 2.00.
Adults – BGN 4.00.
mill/students, students and pensioners – BGN 6.00
adults – BGN 12.00
family ticket – BGN 24.00
Additional services: Talk – BGN 10.00
Contacts:
Address: town of Sopot, municipality of Sopot, region Plovdiv, 1 Vasil Levski St
Tel: +359 (0) 3134 86 50
Tel: +359 878694734
