The Georgi Sava Rakovski Bolhrad High School ( uk, Болградська гімназія імені Г.С. Раковського, ''Bolhrads′ka himnaziya im. H.S. Rakovs′koho''); bg, Болградска гимназия „Георги Сава Раковски“, ''Bolgradska gimnazia „Georgi Sava Rakovski“'') is a gymnasium (

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

) in

Bolhrad Bolhrad ( uk, Болгра́д, Bolhrad, ; bg, Болград, Bolgrad; ro, Bolgrad, Gagauz: ''Bolgrad''), is a small city in Odesa Oblast (province) of southwestern Ukraine, in the historical region of Budjak. It is the administrative center o ...

Odesa Oblast Odesa Oblast ( uk, Оде́ська о́бласть, translit=Odeska oblast), also referred to as Odeshchyna ( uk, Оде́щина) is an oblast (province) of southwestern Ukraine, located along the northern coast of the Black Sea. Its administ ...

, southwestern

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

. Founded in 1858 at the request of Bolhrad's Bessarabian Bulgarian population, the Bolhrad Gymnasium is regarded as the oldest high school of the Bulgarian National Revival.

Bolgrad Glacier Bolgrad Glacier ( bg, ледник Болград, lednik Bolgrad, ) is the 7.4 km long and 5.7 km wide glacier on the west side of Owen Ridge in southern Sentinel Range in Ellsworth Mountains, Antarctica, situated south of Brook Glac ...

Sentinel Range The Sentinel Range is a major mountain range situated northward of Minnesota Glacier and forming the northern half of the Ellsworth Mountains in Antarctica. The range trends NNW-SSE for about and is 24 to 48 km (15 to 30 mi) wide. Ma ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

is named after the Bulgarian High School of Bolhrad.

History

The

Russo-Turkish Wars The Russo-Turkish wars (or Ottoman–Russian wars) were a series of twelve wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 20th centuries. It was one of the longest series of military conflicts in European histo ...

of the late 18th and early 19th century prompted many

Bulgarians Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe. Etymology Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely underst ...

to leave the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

and settle in the southern domains of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

and specifically in the Governorate of Bessarabia. These

Bessarabian Bulgarians The Bessarabian Bulgarians ( bg, бесарабски българи, ''besarabski bǎlgari'', ro, bulgari basarabeni, uk, бесарабські болгари, ''bessarabski bolháry'') are a Bulgarian minority group of the historical region ...

, together with

Gagauz people The Gagauz ( gag, Gagauzlar) are a Turkic people living mostly in southern Moldova (Gagauzia, Taraclia District, Basarabeasca District) and southwestern Ukraine (Budjak). Gagauz are mostly Eastern Orthodox Christians. The term Gagauz is also o ...

founded 43 villages in Bessarabia, as well as the cities of Bolhrad and

Comrat Comrat ( ro, Comrat, ; gag, Komrat, Russian and bg, Комрат, Komrat) is a city and municipality in Moldova and the capital of the autonomous region of Gagauzia. It is located in the south of the country, on the Ialpug River. In 2014, Comr ...

. As early as 1832, Ukrainian Slavist Yuriy Venelin had suggested that Bolhrad become a centre of Bulgarian culture and education in the Russian Empire; however, the idea was not put into practice at the time. Georgi Rakovski monument in Bolhrad

After the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

(1853–1856), southern Bessarabia (including Bolhrad) came back under the rule of the autonomous

Principality of Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Central ...

. In 1857, Nicolae Vogoride, a Moldavian statesman of Bulgarian origin, became

caimacam Kaymakam, also known by many other romanizations, was a title used by various officials of the Ottoman Empire, including acting grand viziers, governors of provincial sanjaks, and administrators of district kazas. The title has been retained an ...

(temporary replacement of prince) of Moldavia. Bulgarian revolutionary

Georgi Sava Rakovski Georgi Stoykov Rakovski ( bg, Георги Стойков Раковски) (1821 – 9 October 1867), known also Georgi Sava Rakovski (), born Sabi Stoykov Popovich (), was a 19th-century Bulgarian revolutionary, freemason, writer and an imp ...

, the school's modern patron, personally lobbied in front of Vogoride for the high school's opening. On 10 June 1858 in Iaşi, the caimacam granted trust committee members Nikola Parushev and Panayot Grekov a charter permitting the establishment of the high school. The charter outlined the goals which the school's establishment set, as well as some basic rules. The high school was open to all colonists, so long as they were of

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 ...

confession. Graduating from the Bolhrad High School would require a total of seven years of education, the first three of which were regarded as ''progymnasium'', or junior high school.

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

, Bulgarian,

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania ** Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditiona ...

and

Church Slavonic Church Slavonic (, , literally "Church-Slavonic language"), also known as Church Slavic, New Church Slavonic or New Church Slavic, is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bosnia and Her ...

were part of the curriculum. The school's own edifice was completed in 1873. The gymnasium was financially independent from state and church, as it relied on income from rents. The first director of the Bolhrad High School was Sava Radulov of

Panagyurishte Panagyurishte ( bg, Панагюрище, also transliterated ''Panagjurište'', ) is a town in Pazardzhik Province, Southern Bulgaria, situated in a small valley in the Sredna Gora mountains. It is 91 km east of Sofia, 43 km north of P ...

. Between 1858 and 1879, 685 people enrolled at the gymnasium and 214 graduated; of these 214, 203 were ethnic Bulgarians. Notable students included

Aleksandar Malinov Aleksandar Pavlov Malinov ( bg, Александър Павлов Малинов) (3 May 1867 – 20 March 1938) was a leading Bulgarian politician who served as Prime Minister on three occasions. He was born in Pandakli, Bessarabia (presen ...

Angel Kanchev Angel Kanchev Angelov ( bg, Ангел Кънчев Ангелов) (1850 – 5 March 1872) was a Bulgarian revolutionary from Tryavna. Kanchev was born in 1850 in the family of a master-builder. At first he studied in his hometown Tryavna and ...

, Danail Nikolaev,

Dimitar Agura Dimitar Agura. Dimitar Dimitrov Agura ( bg, Димитър Димитров Агура; 26 October 1849 – 11 October 1911) was a Bulgarian historian, one of the first professors of history at Sofia University and a rector of the university. Agu ...

Dimitar Grekov Dimitar Panayotov Grekov () (14 September 1847 – 7 May 1901) was a leading Bulgarian liberal politician who also served as Prime Minister. A native of Bolgrad in Bessarabia (now Bolhrad, Ukraine), Grekov was educated at a French legal ...

, Ivan Kolev and

Aleksandar Teodorov-Balan Aleksandar Stoyanov Teodorov-Balan ( bg, Александър Стоянов Теодоров-Балан; 27 October 1859 – 12 February 1959) was a Bulgarian linguist, historian and bibliographer. Balan was born in the village of Kubey in th ...

. In 1879, after

southern Bessarabia Southern Bessarabia or South Bessarabia is a territory of Bessarabia which, as a result of the Crimean War, was returned to the Moldavian Principality in 1856. As a result of the unification of the latter with Wallachia, these lands became part ...

reverted once again to the

, the school gradually lost its entirely Bulgarian character. A significant part of the students, however, remained Bulgarians, and the Bulgarian language, history and geography have been part of the gymnasium's curriculum for most of its later existence, including today.

References

External links

Bolhrad High School website
{{in lang, ru

History

References

External links

See also