Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 All Rights Reserved

"Ten Great Friends of Bulgaria" tells about foreigners who left their mark on Bulgarian history

The book by journalist Milena Dimitrova to be presented in Sofia

Photo: „Книгомания“

The book "Ten Great Friends of Bulgaria" by journalist Milena Dimitrova will be presented this evening at 6pm at the Sts. Cyril and Methodius National Library in Sofia. The book recounts the lives of ten people of different nationalities and eras, whose selfless love for Bulgaria and its people changed their destinies and left its mark on Bulgarian history.

Among the protagonists of the book is Prince Alexander I Battenberg (1857-1893), born in Verona, who became the first monarch of the Third Bulgarian State. He is credited with the unification of the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia, an important step towards national reunification after Bulgaria's liberation from Ottoman rule. 

Another notable figure was the Russian general Ivan Inzov (1768-1845), who headed the Trusteeship Committee for Foreign Immigrants of the Southern Territory of Russia in 1818 and played a key role in organising the Bulgarian colonies in Bessarabia. In 1821 he also founded Bolgrad, now the unofficial capital of the Bulgarians in Ukraine.
The book also draws attention to Emily Ann Strangford (1826-1887), an English noblewoman who came to Bulgaria after the violent suppression of the April Uprising in 1876. Strangford used the nearly £30,000 she raised to establish six hospitals in the worst affected areas, providing vital aid to the population.



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Photo: National Museum of Natural History of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Paleontologists find more than 30 animal fossils from the time of the dinosaurs near Trun

What was the animal world like in the region of what is today the town of Trun more than 80 million years ago – that is the question paleontologists from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences’ National Museum of Natural History have been trying to answer...

published on 10/6/24 6:35 AM
Tsar Boris III

Exhibition in Sofia on the occasion of the 130th anniversary of the birth of Tsar Boris III

The National History Museum celebrates the 130th anniversary of the birth of Tsar Boris III with the exhibition "Tsar Boris III. Personality and Statesman" . It will be opened today in the central lobby of the museum. The exhibition will present, in..

published on 10/3/24 6:05 AM

Why a new Pan-Orthodox Council must be convened in Sofia

26 years ago, on 30 September, at the initiative of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (BOC), a Pan-Orthodox Council was convened in Sofia to resolve the schism within the Bulgarian clergy . Then, despite the efforts of Patriarch Bartholomew of Istanbul to..

published on 9/30/24 7:05 AM