Service Department
Veliko Tarnovo
Personalities, events, and interesting facts
The publication "On the Tracks of History from Veliko Tarnovo, Gabrovo, Lovech, and Pleven. Personalities, events, and interesting facts" is being released on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the "Mizia" local history association. The book is an attempt to bring together in one place what cannot be captured in dry dates and historical facts – the spirit of the place, the power of tradition, the memory of the people.
The Mizia Association includes the local history departments of the Petko R. Slaveykov Regional Library in Veliko Tarnovo, the Aprilov-Palauzov Regional Library in Gabrovo, the Prof. Benyu Tsonev Regional Library in Lovech, and the Hristo Smirnenski Regional Library in Pleven.
"On the Tracks of History from Veliko Tarnovo, Gabrovo, Lovech, and Pleven. Personalities, Events, and Interesting Facts" is the result of the joint work of librarians from the above-mentioned libraries.
The main idea of the proposed edition is to cover and present to the reader a wide range of personalities, events, and facts related to the past and history of the cities of Veliko Tarnovo, Gabrovo, Lovech, Pleven, and their regions. These settlements are not just streets, buildings, and events from the pages of printed works, but the living memory of people—their dreams, labor, suffering, celebrations, and heritage.
The book covers one hundred materials, twenty-five texts presented by each library. The individual publications do not claim to be scientific, but rather have a journalistic character. The published expositions confront the compilers with already completed research, highlighted events, and characterized personalities. However, such a local history publication, arranged in this way and bringing together the past of these settlements, has not been available on the book market until now. Its very printing and publication in this format and with this content reveals family ties, a rise in literacy, education, and social activity, as well as historical and cultural parallels between Veliko Tarnovo, Gabrovo, Lovech, and Pleven. The first lady of Bulgarian architecture, Veliko Tarnovo architect Victoria Angelova-Vinara, wins third prize in the competition for the Military Club building in Pleven; the madcap head of Bulgarian aviation Petko Popganchev becomes director of the State Aircraft Factory in Lovech; Gabrovo educator, mathematician, and physicist Acad. the Gabrovo educator, mathematician, and physicist Acad. Ivan Gyuzelev is the father of the talented Veliko Tarnovo composer Bogdana Gyuzeleva-Vulpe; The founder of modern Bulgarian linguistics, Prof. Benyu Tsonev, taught at the Petropavlovska Seminary near Lyaskovets, etc. The publication itself is evidence supporting the participation of these cities and their libraries in the only local history association in the country.
The texts present individual figures from the Bulgarian Renaissance who made a significant contribution to the economic, cultural, and social development of their native region. These were Bulgarians who kept local identities alive in the context of our national culture, historical events, and processes.
It is only natural that this type of literature should include illustrative material to enrich and illustrate the proposed text. The included photo collection is accompanied by annotations and the source from which the photos were selected is indicated.
The local history publication "On the Tracks of History from Veliko Tarnovo, Gabrovo, Lovech, and Pleven. Personalities, Events, and Interesting Facts" is aimed at young readers with the aim of encouraging their love for their homeland and native region. It is also useful for all those researchers and local historians who preserve local memories and traditions.
The history of a city is actually the individual stories of the people and families who lived there, the events that took place there, and the first discoveries and processes that have become part of its appearance and memory.
A young woman with a dark past...
Milly desperately needs a job. After a long search and numerous rejections, luck finally smiles on her. She is hired as a maid by the wealthy Nina Winchester, who lives in a luxurious house with her husband Andrew and their spoiled and capricious daughter Cecilia.
Series: Robert Langdon
The author of the world's most famous thrillers returns with a stunning new novel—a stimulating, twist-filled, mind-bending masterpiece that will engage readers in a way only Dan Brown can.
The mysteries of Bulgarian folklore come to life in monstrous dimensions in the sequel to Mamnik - Lehus.
Ever since the Petko R. Slaveykov Regional Library launched a national competition for writing crime stories under the general title "The (Un)solved Case" in 2021, we have often been asked where, when, and how the submitted works could be read.
Fortunately, since mid-September 2025, we have been able to enjoy a printed book edition. This was made possible thanks to financial support from the Ministry of Culture under the program "Technological renewal, technological equipment, and promotion of reading, media, and information literacy in public libraries." The collection bears the same title, "The (Un)revealed Case," and contains all 23 stories by the participants who won prizes in the four editions of the competition held so far. Although some of the authors have had individual texts published previously, most of them are not professional writers in the true sense of the word. This undoubtedly adds even more significance to their intellectual efforts.
The Summer Campaign "Come to the Library" is an initiative, conceptually designed to provoke the students from I to XII grade from Veliko Tarnovo, who are readers of RL "Petko R. Slaveykov" to read more and more books during the summer holidays.
With the longest and most successful implementation is the annual competition "My hometown". Its first edition was in 2000 and has since become a favorite and recognizable for the participants from the city and the region.
Regional Library "Petko R. Slaveykov" - Veliko Tarnovo over the last ten years has established an extremely prestigious cultural event, which is the "Foyer of the book with an autograph". The philosophy of this forum is related to the promotion of Bulgarian printed book production not only in the region, but also nationally.
The National Crime Writing Contest, under the general title of "/The/ Unsolved Case," will launch in 2021. The contest is held over a one- or two-month period, traditionally during the fall season of a given calendar year.
For two days in July, the ‘P. R. Slaveykov’ Regional Library in Veliko Tarnovo became a venue for an encounter with an ancient yet still highly valued craft – bookbinding and book restoration.
Library staff had the opportunity to immerse themselves in the intricacies of the art of bookbinding under the guidance of master craftsman Veselin Topalov – a long-standing practitioner with proven expertise in traditional bookbinding and the restoration of book collections.
During the training, participants were introduced to various stages and techniques of the bookbinding process – preparing the book block, sewing on a bookbinding loom, working with bookbinding materials, shaping and reinforcing the book block, crafting and restoring hardback bindings, as well as approaches to dealing with various types of damage.
Participants had the opportunity not only to watch demonstrations but also to put what they had learnt into practice by going through the individual stages of the restoration process.
We would like to thank master bookbinder Veselin Topalov for sharing his knowledge, skills and love of the art of bookbinding!
Between 4 and 8 August, library specialists Anastasia Radeva, Dilyana Georgieva, Simona Stoykova and Ivelina Miteva from the P. R. Slaveykov Regional Library visited the towns of Sittard-Gelen and Maastricht in the Netherlands as part of a mobility project under the Erasmus+ programme. The visit was hosted by Mr Peer Boselie, an archivist at the Regional Archives in Sittard-Gelen and a partner in previous projects undertaken by the library.
The meeting began with an introduction to the archive’s activities and the specialised area for the digitisation of archival materials, which the team refers to as the ‘scanning street’. A presentation on the history of the province of Limburg was shown. The AEZEL project was presented; this covers the Limburg region and involved 200 volunteers.
Currently, 70 volunteers are involved in the archive’s work, which helps the institution to function and represents a key driving force within it.
The first day continued with a visit to the Ligne Public and Academic Library in Sittard. Services are provided by a small number of staff, mainly at the ‘Information’ desk. Readers return and borrow books electronically (via self-service), whilst librarians sort them into the relevant sections. Here, too, they rely on the help of volunteers, mainly to assist students during the academic year. The building features a café, small study rooms and areas for relaxation and reading.
On the second day, a visit was made to the Tracé archive and its adjoining reading room in Maastricht (the administrative centre of the province of Limburg). A working meeting was also held on that day with the conservator
