The Czech-Bulgarian relations date as far back as to the times of the

Great Moravia Great Moravia ( la, Regnum Marahensium; el, Μεγάλη Μοραβία, ''Meghálī Moravía''; cz, Velká Morava ; sk, Veľká Morava ; pl, Wielkie Morawy), or simply Moravia, was the first major state that was predominantly West Slavic to ...

19th century

Their importance rose especially during the time of the

Czech National Revival The Czech National Revival was a cultural movement which took place in the Czech lands during the 18th and 19th centuries. The purpose of this movement was to revive the Czech language, culture and national identity. The most prominent figures o ...

of the 19th century and related ideas of

Pan-Slavism Pan-Slavism, a movement which crystallized in the mid-19th century, is the political ideology concerned with the advancement of integrity and unity for the Slavic people. Its main impact occurred in the Balkans, where non-Slavic empires had rule ...

. Among the pioneers of the Slavic studies (including the Bulgarian studies) were the Czech and Slovak personalities such as

Josef Dobrovský Josef Dobrovský (17 August 1753 – 6 January 1829) was a Czech philologist and historian, one of the most important figures of the Czech National Revival along with Josef Jungmann. Life and work Dobrovský was born at Balassagyarmat, Nó ...

František Ladislav Čelakovský František () is a masculine given name of Czech origin. It is a cognate of Francis, Francisco, François, and Franz. People with the name include: * Frank Daniel (František Daniel) (1926–1996), Czech film director, producer, and screenwriter ...

, Jan Kollár,

Karel Jaromír Erben Karel Jaromír Erben (; 7 November 1811 – 21 November 1870) was a Czech folklorist and poet of the mid-19th century, best known for his collection '' Kytice'', which contains poems based on traditional and folkloric themes. He also wrote ''P ...

and foremost Pavel Josef Šafařík, who had close ties with Bulgarian students in Prague. His interest in

Bulgarian history The history of Bulgaria can be traced from the first settlements on the lands of modern Bulgaria to its formation as a nation-state, and includes the history of the Bulgarian people and their origin. The earliest evidence of hominid occupation d ...

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

and

nation A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective Identity (social science), identity of a group of people unde ...

helped to strengthen Bulgarian self-awareness. In 1862 the Bulgarian and Czech students in Prague established a secret society Pobratim in order to support Bulgarian independence movement against the

Ottoman rule Ottoman is the Turkish spelling of the Arabic masculine given name Uthman ( ar, عُثْمان, ‘uthmān). It may refer to: Governments and dynasties * Ottoman Caliphate, an Islamic caliphate from 1517 to 1924 * Ottoman Empire, in existence fro ...

and to support the unification of the

Slavic nations Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...

. In 1869 the ''Bulharská matice - The Postojanstvo Society'' was established in

Tábor Tábor (; german: Tabor) is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 33,000 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation. Administrative parts The followi ...

aiming for the same purpose. This was followed by the so-called ''Czech invasion'' into Bulgaria, of which Šafářík's grandson

Konstantin Josef Jireček The first name Konstantin () is a derivation from the Latin name ''Constantinus'' ( Constantine) in some European languages, such as Russian and German. As a Christian given name, it refers to the memory of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great ...

was the main personality. He took part in establishing the Bulgarian state services and became Bulgarian Minister of Education in the 1880s. Countless other Czechs took part in build-up of modern education and judiciary, cultural institutions as well as railways in Bulgaria. Many Czech teachers, artists and qualified craftsmen took part in effort to build up Bulgarian state. At the same time Czech industrialists established new undertakings in Bulgaria, foremost sugar refineries and breweries. Meanwhile, many Bulgarians immigrated to the Czech lands; mostly they were unskilled workers and young students wishing to obtain education at the Czech Universities. In 1890 the first official Czech-Bulgarian association was established (''Bulharská Sednjanka''), while in the independent

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

local associations grew in the large towns.

Post-World War II

Large numbers of Bulgarians escaped to Czechoslovakia after Bulgaria (at the time ally of Nazi Germany) was occupied by the Red Army at the end of the second world war. Thousands more benefited from joint program of governments of Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria in years 1946–8, in which whole families immigrated to the areas from which the Germans were expelled. Subsequently, many of these immigrants moved into larger cities, where they obtained jobs usually in industry. During the socialist era the Bulgarian clubs were united under umbrella organisation ''Bulgarian Cultural Organisation''. The most friendly attitude of Czechs towards Bulgarians suffered hard blow as the Bulgarian army took part in the 1968 Invasion of Czechoslovakia.

Notes

{{Bulgarian diaspora Ethnic groups in Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...