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 Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha by hekate
As a result of the Russo-Turkish War of Liberation (1877-1878) the Bulgarian State was restored, but it included only a small part of the Bulgarian lands.The Bulgarian people reacted against the decision of the Berlin Congress with the Kresna-Razlog uprising (1878-1879), accomplishment of the unification of Eastern Rumelia and the Principality of Bulgaria (1885) and organized the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie uprising (1903). Prince Ferdinand Saxe-Coburg-Gotha proclaimed Bulgaria independent and himself the tsar.
Bulgaria, together with Serbia and Greece, was victorious in the Balkan War (1912-1913) against Turkey for the liberation of Thrace and Macedonia, but in the Inter-Allies War (1913) it was defeated by its former allies who tore out territories inhabited by Bulgarians. Bulgaria's participation in the World War I on the side of the Central Powers ended with a national catastrophe, tsar Ferdinand abdicated in favor of his son Boris III (1918-1943).
The period between the two world wars started with a heavy crisis and with the rule of the Bulgarian Agrarian Union. The resistance of the left forces led to the September 1923 uprising guided by the Communist Party. During the next decade the influence of the monarchist circles increased which strengthened the personal power of tsar Boris III. At that time Bulgaria was oriented to Germany and it was forced to join the Axis in 1941. Bulgaria declared the so called "Symbolic war" on USA and Great Britain, but did not participate in the battles on the Eastern Front; the Bulgarian society saved the Jews living in the country from deportation. After the death of Tsar Boris III a council of regents was formed and it ruled instead of the underage Simeon II. A National Committee of the Fatherland Front (organization created by the communists) was set up and a guerilla movement was organized.
Newest Bulgarian history
In 1944 the Fatherland Front took over the power. The presence of the Soviet Army in Bulgaria sped up the changes in the political life and the following events - the declaration of the Republic (1946) and the coming to power of the Bulgarian Communist Party; the political parties were dismantled, nationalization of industry and banks, cooperation of land were implemented.
In 1989 democratic changes began in Bulgaria - the political parties and the parliamentary functions were restored. The National Assembly adopted a new Constitution which regulates the functions of the three main powers - legislative, executive and legal.
Note:
On the picture you see Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. An interesting link from the Third Bulgarian Kingdom to the contemporary Bulgarian history :)
Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha or Simeon II was the son of Tsar Boris III and succesor of the throne. When his father past away he was underaged. Due to this fact, a council of regents was formed and it ruled instead of him. He would have become the new ruler of the country if there was not the communist regime.
At the moment he is the prime miniter of the country. Elections are coming on 26 June and may be he will have to give up the power once again :)
Update:
Had to do this update long time ago but I did not find the time, so just to say - Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha is no longer the prime minister. At the moment the prime minister is Sergei Stanishev - member of the scialist party. Leave a Comment
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 A scene from a Bulgarian
historical movie by hekate
The history of Bulgaria separates into four periods:
The First Bulgarian Kingdom(681 – 1018 AD)
The Bulgarian State was founded in 681 by khan Asparouh as a leader of a union of the Slavs and the Proto-Bulgarians in their struggle against Byzantium. The following period between the 8th and the 10th centuries brought the political rise and territorial expansion.
Boris I Mihail (852-889) converted the Bulgarians to Christianity and adopted the Slavonic script created by Constantine Cyril the Philosopher and his brother Methodius.
Simeon the Great (893-927) conquered new lands and expanded the territory of Bulgaria to the Black Sea, the Aegean and the Adriatic. Bulgaria became one of the most powerful states in Europe.
Byzantine rule
After exhaustive wars with Byzantium which ended with the defeat of the troops of czar Samuil (997-1014) the Byzantine rule over Bulgaria was established.
The Second Bulgarian Kingdom(1185 – 1396 AD)
In 1187 the Second Bulgarian Kingdom with Turnovo as a capital was established. Petur II was pronounced tsar of the Bulgarians.
The power of Bulgaria was restored by tsar Kaloyan (1197-1207) who inflicted a final defeat on the forces of the Latin emperor Baldwin I.
The ascension of tsar Ivan Asen II (1218-1241) on the throne is connected with a new strengthening of the state, with the expansion of its borders, and with economic and cultural development.
Tsar Ivan-Alexandur (1331-1371) divided the country between his sons Ivan Sratsimir (1371-1396) and Ivan Shishman (1371-1393). The cultural life was on the upsurge again.
The Otoman Expansion
The attacks of the Ottoman Turks on the Balkan Peninsula in the 14th century led to the waning of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom taken over in 1396.
The 18th century witnessed the beginning of the Bulgarian National Revival and the formation of the Bulgarian nation. The period of the National Revival began with "The Slav-Bulgarian History" written in 1762 by Paisii of Hilendar. The ideology of national liberation was conceived, the independent Bilgarian church, education and culture were restored.
Note:
What you see on the picture is a scene from a Bulgarian movie called The Glory of Khan. It was made to celebrate the 1,300th anniversary of the founding of Bulgaria. It tells the story of Khan Asparuh and the foundation of Bulgaria. Leave a Comment
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 Bulgarian Coat-of-Arms by hekate
Above the shield there shall be a large crown whose archetype shall be the crowns of the rulers of the Second Bulgarian Empire, with five crosses and another cross on top of the crown.
The shield shall be held by two crowned gold lions rampant, standing on two crossed oak branches with acorns.
The three lions represent the three parts of Bulgaria: Moesia, Thrace, and Macedonia.
Under the shield there shall be a white band, lined with the national colors, containing the text "Saedinenieto pravi silata" ["Union Produces Strength"].
Article 165 of the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria states that the State Seal shall depict the Coat of Arms of the Republic of Bulgaria.
The last coat-of-arms was adopted by the Bulgarian National Assembly on the 31st of July, 1997.
If you want to see how the Coat of arms of the Republic of Bulgaria had changed truogh the years you could check up the site below:
Coat of arms of the Republic of Bulgaria Leave a Comment
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 St. Sofia Church by hekate
- Bulgarian Orthodox 82.6%,
- Muslim 12.2%,
- other Christian 1.2%,
- other 4%
But some of these people claiming to be Orthodox Christians haven’t set their foot in a church for the last couple of months or even years - actually I guess not more than 60% out of these 82.6% are true Orthodox Christians, the rest are more or less atheists.
The explanation I have for myself is a bit odd and probably not everybody would agree with it but here it is:
During the time of the communist regime people were pushed to be atheists. After all, religion (Christian or Muslim, religion as a whole) what proclaimed as opium for the masses. People who cared for their carriers were atheists or pretended to be such. But if you pretend long enough it might become true, so after 45 years of communist regime some people from my parents’ generation had abandoned their religion and a large number of the people from my generation were raised as atheist.
After the fall of the communist regime it became kind of fashionable to say that you are an Orthodox Christian. Something like opposing the old regime just for the sake of opposing – you know – the pendulum effect. Some of the people who say they are Orthodox Christians hardly go to church at all and some of them haven’t even read the Bible. Another category of people just pretend that they are Orthodox Christians just because it gives them to have more interesting pictures from their wedding day, for example. People who are truly religious find this hypocrisy quite irritating and I should say I fully agree with them.
If you are interested in the subject you might find the link below worth reading.
http://countrystudies.us/bulgaria/26.htm Leave a Comment
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 Picture of Vassil Levski by hekate
Called the Apostle of Freedom by the Bulgarian people, Vassil Levski set up a revolutionary network all over Bulgaria. He established numerous revolutionary committees and started preparing the people for a general uprising. Betrayed by a traitor, he was captured by the Turks in late 1872 and was executed after a trial on 19 February 1873 as the Turks feared strong public resentment.
Note:
I took this picture in the Samokov's Historical Musem. Unfortunatelly I could not escape the reflextion from the lights, so please accept my apologies for the quality of the picture. Leave a Comment
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 The text of Shoumi
Maritsa by hekate
Former Bulgarian National Anthems: 1886-1944 - Shoumi Maritsa
Words and music: Nikola Zhivkov (1847-1890)
1944-1950
Words: Krum Penev
Music: Georgi Dimitrov (1904-1979)
1950-1964
Words:
Nikola Furnadzhiev (1903-1968)
Mladen Issaev (b.1907)
Elisaveta Bagrjana (1893-1991)
Music:
Georgi Dimitrov (1904-1979)
Georgi Zlatev-Tscherkin (1905-1977)
Svetoslav Obretenov (1909-1955)
Cyrillic:
(In order to read it you should change the encoding to cyrillic)
Горда Стара Планина,
До ней Дунава синей,
Слънце Тракия огрява,
Над Пирина пламеней.
Припев:
Мила Родино,
Ти си земен рай,
Твойта хубост, твойта прелест,
Ах, те нямат край.
Паднаха борци безчет
за народа наш любим,
майко, дай ни мъжка сила
пътя им да продължим.
Bulgarian text transliterated with latin letters:
Gorda Stara planina,
do nei Dunava sinei,
sluntse Trakiya ogryava,
nad Pirina plamenei.
Pripev:
Mila Rodino,
ti si zemen rai,
tvoita hubost, tvoita prelest,
ah, te niyamat krai.
Padnaha bortsi bezchet
za naroda nash lyubim,
maiko, dai ni muzhka sila
putya im da produlzhim.
Translated in English it should be something like that:
Proud Balkan mountains,
next to them the Danube flows,
the sun sheds its light over Thrace,
shining over Pirin.
Chorus:
Dear motherland,
you are paradise on earth,
your beauty and your charm,
ah, they have no bounds.
Countless fighters gave thier lives
for our beloved people.
Mother, give us manly strength
to carry on their course. Leave a Comment
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 Offcial holidays list by hekate
-- 24 May - Bulgarian Education and Culture, and Slavonic Literature Day
-- 6 September - Unification Day
-- 22 September - Independence Day
Each of theese three official holidays will span across three days of the week, thus forming a long weekend. For 6 September it might be even longer.
One of the days is planned for work-off the following weekend, to reorganize effectively work schedule and provide for more time of relax for working Bulgarians.
This year orthodox Easter wll be celebrated on 24 April and 25 April is an official holiday.
Here is the full list of the Official Holidays in Bulgaria:
-- 1 January - New Year?s Holiday
-- 3 March - National Holiday /Bulgaria?s Liberation from the Ottoman rule/
-- End of April / Beginning of May - Orthodox Easter. The Monday after yeater is a non working day.
-- 1 May - Labour Day
-- 6 May - Gergyovden (St. George?s Day), and the Bulgarian Military Army?s Day
-- 24 May - Bulgarian Education and Culture, and Slavonic Literature Day
-- 6 September - Unification Day
-- 22 September - Independence Day
-- 1 November - National Day of the Bulgarian Enlighteners (Holiday for all educational institutions)
-- 24,25,26 December - Christmas Days Leave a Comment
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 The flag by hekate
The colors on the Bulgarian flag represent the following:
White - peace and honesty
Green - hope, joy and love and in many cultures have a sacred significance
Red - hardiness, bravery, strength & valour
This form of the flag was adopted on April 16, 1879 with the first Bulgarian Constitution. The Communist Constitution of December 6, 1947 added the the coat of arms (rampant lion) in the upper left corner (this was kept in the third Constitution of May 18, 1971). The current form has no coat of arms and was adopted in the fourth Constituion of July 13, 1991. Leave a Comment
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 BGmaps.com by zlatiq
bgmaps
domino.bg Leave a Comment
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 Tsar Boris by hekate
Khan Asparoukh (681-700)
Khan Tarvel (700-721)
Khan Kardam (777-803)
Khan Krum 803-814
Khan Omurtag 814-831
Khan Perssian 836-852
Boris I 852-889
Tsar Simeon the Great 893-923
Tsar Peter I 927-970
Tsar Samuil 997-1014
Tsar Peter II and Tsar Assen I 1185-1197
Tsar Kaloyan 1197-1207
Tsar Ivan Assen II 1218-1241
Tsar Ivailo 1278-1280
Tsar Todor Svetoslav 1300-1321
Tsar Mihail Shishman 1323-1330
Tsar Ivan Alexander 1331-1371
Tsar Ivan Shishman 1371-1395
Tsar Ivan Strashimir 1356-1396
Prince Alexander I 1879-1886
Stafan Stambolov 1887-1894
Tsar Ferdinand 1887-1918
Alexander Stamboliyski 1919-1923
Tsar Boris III 1918-1943
Georgi Dimitrov 1946 -1949
Vulko Chervenkov 1950 -1956
Todor Zhivkov 1956 -1989
Zhelyu Zhelev 1990 - 1996
Peter Stoyanov 1997 - 2001
Georgi Parvanov 2001 - present Leave a Comment
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