During the first half of the 19th century the Bulgarian people having come into contact with civilized Europe, became aware of their age-long backwardness, to which they had been inevitably doomed by the barbarous foreign domination, and began to strive for more education. Gradually the old monastery schools were replaced by secular ones which taught according to new methods and curricula. Hundreds of selfless teachers, who had dedicated their lives to the cultural upsurge of their people and to the struggle for their liberation, worked side by side with the outstanding organizers of Bulgarian education Dr Peter Beron and Vassil Aprilov.

Slav alphabet of Bulgarian education

Besides the schools, the library clubs — voluntarily established public educational institutions with a wide range of activities — proved very useful in this work. In spite of the great number of obstacles put up by the Ottomans, the number of Bulgarian schools in the 1870s exceeded 1,500, and that of library clubs — 130. The first Bulgarian newspapers and magazines began to come out in the 1840s.

It was during those days of national revival that the brightest Bulgarian holiday began to be celebrated, which is celebrated to this day – the Day of Cyril and Methodius, the creators of the Slav alphabet of Bulgarian education and culture. In 1869 the Bulgarian Literary Society was founded in the Romanian town of Bralla, which constituted the foundations of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Modern Bulgarian literature was also making its first steps, represented by the talented writers and poets, loyal to their people, Lyuben Karavelov, Hristo Botev, Vassil Droumev, Konstantin and Dimiter Miladinov, Raiko Zhinsifov, Grigor Purlichev, Naiden Gerov, Dobri Voynikov, Petko Rachov Slaveykov, Ivan Vazov and others. Many of them were also revolutionaries and became recognized ideologists and leaders of the Bulgarian national revolution.

The 19th century marked the flowering of the arts of the Bulgarian National Revival period. The painters Zahari Zograph, Stanislav Dospevski and Nikolai Pavlovich, the wood-carvers from the schools in Debur, Tryavna and Samokov, the self-taught talented master- builder and architect Kolyu Ficheto and thousands of anonymous masters created immortal works of art which arouse the admiration of the present generations.

 This free site is ad-supported. Learn more
​