Bardarski Geran ( bg, Бърдарски геран; Banat Bulgarian: ''Bardársći Gjeránj'' or ''Bardáre'') is a village in northwestern

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

, part of

Byala Slatina Municipality Byala Slatina Municipality is a municipality in Vratsa Province, Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the ...

Vratsa Province Vratsa Province ( bg, Област Враца ''Oblast Vraca'', former name Okrug, Vraca okrug) is a Bulgarian province located in the northwestern part of the country, between Danube river in the north and Stara Planina mountain in the south. I ...

. It is among the several villages founded by

Banat Bulgarians The Banat Bulgarians ( Banat Bulgarian: ''Palćene'' or ''Banátsći balgare''; common bg, Банатски българи, Banatski balgari; ro, Bulgari bănățeni; sr, / ), also known as Bulgarian Roman Catholics and Bulgarians Paulician ...

returning from the

Banat Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of T ...

after the

Liberation of Bulgaria The Liberation of Bulgaria is the historical process as a result of the Bulgarian Revival. In Bulgarian historiography, the liberation of Bulgaria refers to those events of the Tenth Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) that led to the re-establishmen ...

from Ottoman rule in 1878, and is thus predominantly

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

. It is regarded as "the capital of Banat Bulgarians in Bulgaria" by certain members of the community.

Geography

The village of Bardarski Geran is located in the western part of the Danube plain, near its most fertile field Zlatiyata, known in the past as the granary of Western

. The climate is temperate continental with pronounced temperature amplitudes. Spring is cool, summer - dry and hot, winter - cold.

History and culture

The village was founded in 1887, mostly by Banat Bulgarian settlers (initially 185 families) from

Dudeștii Vechi Dudeștii Vechi (until 1964 Beșenova Veche; hu, Óbesenyő; german: Altbeschenowa; Banat Bulgarian: ''Stár Bišnov''; sr, Старо Бешеново, Staro Bešenovo) is a commune in Timiș County, Romania. It is composed of three villages: ...

(''Stár Bišnov'') in

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

(today in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

). A number of

Banat Swabians The Banat Swabians are an ethnic German population in the former Kingdom of Hungary in Central-Southeast Europe, part of the Danube Swabians. They emigrated in the 18th century to what was then the Austrian Empire's Banat of Temeswar province, la ...

also settled, beginning with seven families in 1893, their total number later exceeding 90 families. Due to the religious differences (the Bulgarian inhabitants of the surrounding villages being

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

), the inhabitants of Bardarski Geran would mostly communicate with residents of the other Catholic villages in the region. The village has two Roman Catholic churches, one of which is the Church of

St Joseph Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers of ...

, and the other the German Church of the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

, which is almost destroyed due to lack of maintenance, as the bulk of the Germans left around

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Despite the common denomination, lifestyle and customs, the Bulgarians and the Germans would not usually intermarry and often quarrelled, and so preferred to have two separate churches. In the 1930s, the Bulgarian parish priest was Evgeniy Bosilkov, future Bishop of Nikopol, while the German colonists were served by Emil Frohe. Bardarski Geran's characteristic architecture featuring elongated one-storey houses with

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...

an-style sharp-pointed roofs and straight streets owes much to

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

architect and engineer Leopold Forabosco who settled in the village after arriving in Bulgaria on Tsar

Ferdinand Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "protection", "peace" (PIE "to love, to make peace") or alternatively "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "co ...

's request. The monthly newspaper of the Banat Bulgarians in Bulgaria, ''Falmis'', was founded in Bardarski Geran in 1997. There is also a folklore dance group active in Bardarski Geran and performing Banat Bulgarian dances and songs. The Bardarski Geran cultural centre (''

chitalishte A ''chitalishte'' (, . Derives from the verb "чета" - "to read" or "читател" - "reader") is a typical Bulgarian public institution and building that fulfills several functions at once, such as a community centre, library, and a theat ...

'') was founded in 1923 by Germans and Bulgarians in the house of Mathis Scheringer; in 1958, it moved to its present building. The village has an amateur football club, named after Botev. In the village's centre, right next to the

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another buildi ...

, there is a monument to a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

fighter plane Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield p ...

crew that crashed in the vicinity in

, as well as a monument to the locals that perished in the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defe ...

and

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Gallery

File:Banatska kyshta v BG 8 - muzej.JPG, Museum File:Bardarski Geran church.JPG, Banat Bulgarian church File:Byrdarski geran cyrkva.jpg, Banat Bulgarian church File:Bardarski Geran church 2.JPG, Inside the Banat Bulgarian church File:Nemska cyrkva v byrdarski geran 5.jpg, German church File:Nemska cyrkva v byrdarski geran 3.jpg, German church File:Bardarski Geran Old house.JPG, Old house File:Banatska kyshta v BG 1.JPG, Old house File:03-Kardinal-Ronkali-v-Bardarski-geran.jpg,

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...

comes in the village File:2.BRGR-Istoria-LukanChukanov-osnovateli.jpg, Lukan Chukanov and other founders of the village File:3.BRGR-Istoria-Poslednite-zaselnici-1943.jpg, The last settlers from

File:Farsangji2015-bardarskigeran-01.jpg, Participants at the Fershangi International Festival in Bardarski Geran in 2015

Notable people

* Lukan Chukanov – first mayor of the village * Gjura Telbiz – first teacher in the village *

Eugene Bossilkov Eugene Bossilkov, born Vincent Bossilkov (b. 16 Nov 1900-11 Nov 1952), was a member of the Passionist Congregation, Roman Catholic bishop of Nicopolis and martyr in the Communist campaign in Bulgaria against religion. He had studied in Rome for ...

– member of the

Passionist The Passionists, officially named Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ (), abbreviated CP, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men, founded by Paul of the Cross in 1720 with a special emphasis on and de ...

Congregation,

Roman Catholic bishop In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an Holy Orders, ordained Minister (Catholic Church), minister who holds the fullness of the Sacraments of the Catholic Church, sacrament of Holy orders in the Catholic Church, holy orders and is responsible ...

of Nikopol and

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

in the

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

campaign in

against religion * Anton Gjukov – scenograph * Stojan Francov – first principal of the school in the village * Svetlana Karadzhova – public figure, mayor 2011 – 2015

Footnotes

References

* * *

External links

Website about Bardarski Geran
{{Byala Slatina Municipality Villages in Vratsa Province Banat Bulgarian people Populated places established in 1887