Regional Library Petko R. Slaveykov

На 6 септември през 1864 г. във Велико Търново е роден Никола Христов Габровски – народен представител, юрист, един от основателите на Българската социалдемократическа партия.

На 10 септ. 1919 г. се основава, първият спортен клуб в старата столица.

На 8 септември 1869 г. във Велико Търново в сградата на главното училище при църквата „Св. Богородица” се основава сдружение, което е наречено „Женска община”.

На 22 септември честваме 116 години от обявяването на Независимостта на България! Честит празник!

On 28 and 29 March, the librarians from the Reference and Local History Department took part in the annual working meeting of the Local History Association "Mizia".

145 years ago 9/22 March 1879 was celebrated for the first time as the Day of Veliko Tarnovo and the holiday of the Tarnovo Garrison. The holiday was restored on March 22, 1984.

The citizens of Old Town were the first in Bulgaria to adopt a day of the year as their holiday, a day on which everyone lives with the greatness and glory of their hometown in mind. In the literary magazine Pravda of 1879, written by Nediu Zhekov, the first information about the celebration of March 22 as the holiday of Veliko Tarnovo can be found. The article "A spiritual celebration" describes the great celebration of the citizens of Veliko Tarnovo in the church of St. Forty Martyrs", held on 9 March (old style). The Divine Liturgy was attended by the Imperial Commissar Prince Dondukov-Korsakov, the army, senior officials and clergy, deputies from the Constituent Assembly held in the city at that time and many citizens. For the first time after five centuries of slavery, not only the people of Turnov, but also the entire national representation, paid tribute to our past. From then until 1944, the Day of the Holy Forty Martyrs was celebrated annually as the Day of Tarnovo and the holiday of the Tarnovo garrison.

Over the years, each celebration usually began at 9 a.m. with a solemn parade of the units of the Tarnovo Garrison, led by military brass music. The parade was eagerly attended by the schoolchildren and traditionally the portraits of the Tarnovo benefactors were carried in the front columns. These are the donors of Turnovo who gave funds for the construction of schools, libraries, community centers, hospitals, churches, who contributed to the spiritual development of the old capital. The mayor of the city congratulated the warriors of the Tarnovo garrison and the entire citizenry on the holiday. The assembled crowd headed to the monument of the participants in the Velcho Zavara. Famous Tarnovo cultural figures told stories about the great deed of the benefactors. Poems were recited and songs dedicated to the great city of Tarnovo were sung.

In the Municipal newspaper "Veliko Tarnovo" of March 20, 1934 we read. From all over Bulgaria should flock here, to revive the past in their souls and in front of the columns of Omurtagh and John Asen, and at the tombs of the Bulgarian kings to feel that the old lives its spiritual life, that Bulgaria has its thousand-year history. Let us make this holiday a day of the Bulgarian spirit."

After 1944, the holiday was not celebrated as Veliko Tarnovo Day. For its restoration have to be credited the wakeful inhabitants of the district "Asenov", who in 1970 celebrated it in the church "St. Forty Martyrs. In 1984, their idea was supported by the Veliko Tarnovo community, which to this day inherits the tradition of this day being dedicated solely to the unique Veliko Tarnovo.

Sources used:

Mitova-Ganeva, Katya. Veliko Tarnovo - unknown, curious and beloved / Katya Mitova-Ganeva. - Veliko Tarnovo : Faber, 2008. - 200 с

Mitova-Ganeva, Katya. Memory of Tarnovo : pages from the post-liberation history of the city / Katya Mitova-Ganova. - Veliko Tarnovo : Faber, 2009. - 528 с

Municipal newspaper Veliko Tarnovo, № 24, 20 March 1934.

March 21 marks the 70th anniversary of the death of General Nikola Bakardzhiev - military leader, general of the infantry.

Born on 26 September 1881 in Tarnovo. Nikola Petkov Bakardzhiev graduated from a military school in Sofia in 1901 and the General Staff Academy in Turin, Italy in 1907. He was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant on 1 January 1901 and to the rank of captain on 15 October 1908. He served first in the cavalry, then as battery commander in an artillery regiment.

In 1907 he was attached to the Army Staff. He was successively appointed senior adjutant of the 1st Brigade of the 7th Rila Infantry Division (1908); assistant chief of the military communications section at Army Headquarters (1909); lecturer at the military school (1909-1910); chief of the military communications section at Army Headquarters (1911); chief of the engineer section at the organization and construction department (1912).

During the Balkan War, 1912-1913, he was assistant chief of the operational section at the Headquarters of the active army. On 5 August 1913 he was promoted to the rank of major. During World War I, 1915-1918, he was chief of the operations section at the Headquarters of the Active Army and commander of a company in the 1st Sofia Infantry Regiment, with which he participated in the war with Romania. On 16 March 1917 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel.

After the war, with the rank of colonel, he was appointed head of a division and chairman of the Military Historical Commission at the Army Headquarters, commander of the 2nd Infantry Thracian Regiment in 1925. On 6 May 1926, he was promoted to the rank of major-general.

From 1929-1931 he was Minister of War. On 16 May 1934 he was promoted to the rank of General of Infantry and dismissed from the army.

He was awarded the Military Order "For Bravery" III degree, 2nd class, IV degree, 1st and 2nd class; the Order "St. Alexander" V degree with swords; the same order II without swords; the People's Order "For Military Merit" V degree on military ribbon and the same order I degree on ordinary ribbon.

He died on 21 March 1954 in Sofia.

Literature used:

Infantry General Nikola Petkov Bakardzhiev (p. 94) : Command of the Bulgarian Army in World War I (1915-1918). 1919-1918 // Nedev, Svetlozar. The command of the Bulgarian army during the wars of national unification 1885, 1912, 1913, 1915, 1918 : a reference book / Svetlozar Nedev. - Sofia : Military Publishing House Sv. Georgi Pobedonosets, 1993, pp. 141.

Bakardzhiev, Mihail. Unique diary of General Nikola Bakardzhiev from the military school in Sofia in the 1890s. // Military History Collection, No. 5, 1994, pp. 64-82.

Bakardzhiev, Nikola Petrov : [1881-1954]. // Bulgaria : a large encyclopedia : Vol. 1 / Ed. Sofia : B. ed., 2011, p. 157.

The library's local history activities in the 1920s and 1930s were just beginning. Its initial reference apparatus was created in the spring of 1923 by students from the Tarnovo Male High School.

During the reign of the director Pencho Krussev, active donation campaigns were held in the library, its entire reference apparatus was organized, and the beginning of the local history card catalogue was laid. There are 20,000 publications about Veliko Tarnovo, arranged according to a classification scheme with over 630 divisions specially prepared for the occasion by Pencho Krussev. This card catalogue was the first local history card catalogue in Bulgaria, which is still kept in the library.

The object of the local history activity is the search and collection of books, newspapers and magazines published or printed in the town before the establishment of the library. The search includes publications related to Veliko Tarnovo, manuscripts and old printed books, materials by local authors, etc. The valuable manuscript collection that the library has, thanks to the initiative taken by its first directors, is a source of local history research.

To date, the Department of Local History is a separate department within the structure of the Department of Reference and Bibliography.

The priority of the library specialists in the department is the search, collection, processing and provision of correct and complete information about Veliko Tarnovo and the Veliko Tarnovo region - in the sphere of socio-political and economic life, history, science, culture, education, biographical materials, art, sports, etc.

The department keeps local history literature, with over 2500 titles of books, distributed to all branches of knowledge. The information researched and collected ranges from the Renaissance period to the present day. A local history catalogue and a local history card catalogue have been created. Local history literature and local periodicals are included in the library's electronic catalogue. An electronic local history card catalogue is also available on the library's website for the convenience of readers and users. The department maintains local history collections in the Digital Cultural Treasury North +.

The Local History section has a remarkable collection of postcards related to objects or events from the Veliko Tarnovo region. A collection of calendars and postal envelopes, with colour and black and white images with a first edition stamp on them. The collection of badges is a non-traditional collection. The philatelic collection "Veliko Tarnovo in Philately. 1879-1987" It contains over 100 stamps.

It has a well-developed reference literature, helping the information search of readers and library users. It updates, maintains and enriches an electronic database of local information.

The department provides oral and written bibliographical references on a given topic or information search. Written bibliographical references are prepared for a fee. Oral references can be requested by telephone, e-mail or at the library.

Library specialists prepare bibliographic indexes, bibliographies, and are actively involved in the publication of local history collections, anniversary newspapers, pamphlets, and brochures.

The Local Lore Branch takes as its mission the promotion of Veliko Tarnovo and the Veliko Tarnovo region through various forms and events, participating and celebrating current events, dates, anniversaries and themes of national and local importance.