The name of Hadzhi Nencho Palaveev is not so popular nowadays. However, the citizens of the small mountain town of Koprivshtitsa know that once he was the biggest benefactor of the town.  The results of his deeds can be noticed everywhere in the town. There are many legends about the huge wealth and the character of this Bulgarian. 

© Photo: www.koprivshtitza.com

Hadzhi Nencho Palaveev was born in the town of Koprivshtitsa in 1859. His father Doncho Palaveev was one of the founders and a co-owner of a trade company. His business partner was the renowned entrepreneur Ivan Madzharov, who was a father of Mihail Madzharov. The partnership had subsidiaries in Alexandria, Cairo, Tsarigrad(Istanbul). Nencho Palaveev became a pilgrim when he was 10 years old. Rossitsa Stoyanova from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences tells us about his life, fortune and his donation campaigns.

He studied in his native town in the famous Koprivshtitsa secondary school. Just like many of the leaders from the Bulgarian revival period, the success of Nencho Paleveeev was due not only to his high education, but to the opportunity to practice the business, his brightness and his business flair. In 1871, when he was still a child, he went to Egypt to help his father in trade and learn from him. The devastation caused by the crush of the April uprising in Bulgaria and the loss of huge trade markets within the Ottoman Empire after the Russo-Turkish war in 1878 had a negative impact on his family business. The trade started to decay and as a result his father returned to his native town of Koprivshtitsa. Only Nencho remained in Egypt. He was the one to bring back the family business to life and made it even more lucrative. The center of his business empire was in the towns of Cairo and Alexandria He opened a confectionery shop and traveled to many countries from the Middle East and Eastern Asia, where he did commodity trade. He also established trade contacts with England. He managed to learn Arabic, Greek, French, Turkish and Russian, which helped him a lot in his business activities. He became a shareholder in the company that had to construct the Suez Channel and bought properties in Cairo and 4 big stables in the town of Alexandria. He invested most of his money in shares and bonds in the Agricultural Bank of Egypt and the Egyptian National Bank and kept them in a commercial bank in Basel, Switzerland.

On January 29, 1914, he became a Russian citizen and changed his name to Anesti Antonovich Zhiata. This helped him do his business and travel around Asia, Africa and Europe more freely. During the 1930’s he returned to Bulgaria. He died on September 18, 1936, in the Red Cross hospital in Sofia. He was buried in his native town of Koprivshtitsa in a tomb, which he had built in the yard of Uspenie Bogorodichno( Virgin Mary’s Assumption) church. Although Hadzhi Nencho Palaveev spent most of his life abroad, his heart remained in his native town of Koprivshtitsa. His charity campaign showed his great love towards this place.

Nencho Palaveev made many single donations. The most significant are the ones for the construction of a new water supply system, the monument in honor of the victims of the Aril uprising and the construction of a granite bell-tower in Saint Nicholas church, the construction of the community centers in Koprivshtitsa and Zlatitsa, which bear his name. He also donated money for the tomb stone of the renowned Bulgarian poet Dimcho Debelyanov, for the construction of the elementary school in the village of Dulevo (Panagurishte district). He also subsidized the construction of many fountains and monuments of eminent people from the town of Koprivshtitsa. He was very concerned about the development of science and education in his native town.

This is why his 2 biggest donations were directed to the educational and spiritual development of the citizens of Koprivshtitsa. 

In 1932 he granted GBP 6 000 to the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science for the establishment of a fund on his name. The revenues of this fund had to be used as a subsidy for the “Modern secondary school Luben Karavelov” in Koprivshtitsa. His other big donation was made in his testament. His final will was to appoint the municipal council of Koprivshtitsa to inherit his fortune. He left to the council many properties in Bulgaria and abroad, as well as shares and bonds, kept in a Swiss bank. His business flair can be noticed in his final will. He knew well the legislation and local traditions in Egypt. This is why he created a board of trustees with its own statute and management board. It had to manage his testament and govern his properties in Egypt. During the WW2 his assets in Switzerland and his properties in Egypt were blocked as capitals of a citizen from a rival country. However, they were unblocked after the war in 1946.

The foundation, which had to manage the money, granted by Nencho Palaveev, continued to function even after the nationalization of the Bulgarian charity funds and foundations in the second half of the 1940’s and the beginning of the 1950’s.  The boarding house of the secondary school in Koprivshtitsa was built due to its financial support. Later the boarding school was turned into a health boarding house for children with lung diseases. The foundation also granted money for the reconstruction and expansion of the community center in Koprivshtitsa, for the construction of a youth house and for the repair of the monument of the heroes of the April uprising. 

The last amount of this foundation was granted to the state budget through the Bulgarian National bank on July 18, 1980. The money amounted to just over 1000 leva or EUR 500. All financial accounts of this fund were closed on this day. The properties were nationalized by the state and the box with the private valuables of Hadzi Nencho Palaveev was given to the municipal council of Koprivshtitsa. This was the end of the fund established due to the generosity of a great Bulgarian.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov