A new European cultural route – “Following in the footsteps of Bulgarian gardeners” will be applying to the Council of Europe for a certificate. The aim is to integrate the project into the European “Cultural routes” programme, tracing the history of the nations, the migration processes and the spread of European civilization.

The idea belongs to the Bulgarian Research Institute in Hungary with Director Monica Tyutyunkova. Partners on the Bulgarian side are: the Museum of Emigrant Gardening in Lyaskovets, the Regional Museum of History in Veliko Turnovo and Shoumen University. The idea came into being in 2014 to mark the centennial anniversary of the Society of Bulgarians in Hungary, when a monument to Bulgarian gardeners was unveiled in Budapest. Tomash Budai, trade attaché at the Hungarian embassy in Bulgaria, whose mother is Bulgarian also speaks highly of our fellow countrymen:

“Bulgarian gardeners have been in Hungary for 100 years and they have their own institutions. They created their own church in Budapest – St. St. Cyril and Methodius. It too was built exactly 100 years ago and this year we shall be celebrating the jubilee of the Bulgarian church community that was created thanks to the gardeners from Bulgaria. This church is an anchor for them in Hungary. Bulgarians there also have their culture house, built many years ago, they have their Bulgarian school. These are institutions that have, through the years, helped them keep their self-awareness, their way of life. Being half-Bulgarian myself, I am glad that the Bulgarians spirit is so vibrant, so resilient in Hungary.”

The first event in this joint project is a mobile gardening exhibition that will be on show in several towns in Hungary and in Bulgaria. In Hungary the main venues are Budapest and Szeged and in Bulgaria – Lyaskovets, Veliko Turnovo, Shoumen and Sofia. The exposition will be on the road from June until December. In each town, additional exhibits will be added – photographs, documents and different objects from the local museums. Educational programmes for children and youngsters are also on the agenda.

One example of how the project can be supplemented is the extensive exposition of the Museum of Emigrant Gardening in Lyaskovets. Here is the museum’s curator Sergey Dobrev with the story of Bulgarian gardeners that goes back to the mid-19th century:

“The first Bulgarians that left the country went to Romania and Yugoslavia – i.e. the nearest countries – to make good money. Some of them went to Banat and Braila, others went as far as Belgrade. The groups leaving the country were known by the Turkish word taifa (gang) and the person in charge of each group was called gazda. They started leaving the country in groups of 10-15. They would lease a piece of land, work it, extend the gardens. Some would come back with the money they made in November, others would spend the winter there because they put up temporary buildings. The second generation of gardeners who went to work abroad kept a record. When a group left the country, they had a record of who had invested what – one man a cart, another man a horse or a plough. They had a scribe who kept a record of each man’s earnings so the profits could be distributed at the end of the day.”

More about the aims of the project and the cultural routes from Iliya Vulev from the History Museum of Veliko Turnovo:

“This is a cross-border project that aims to popularize a very strong bond between Bulgaria and Hungary that few people know even exists. We want emigrant gardening to be something that brings together different cultural events and institutions. That is why we are currently putting our efforts into creating these contacts so we can be of help to one another.”

Work on the project will span four years. Efforts will be made to find the heirs of the one-time Bulgarian gardeners who have much to tell about the way their ancestors lived in the first half of last century.

English version: Milena Daynova

Photos: gradinarstvo.lyaskovets.net