site.btaUkraine’s Odesa Oblast Marks 94 Years Amid War, Celebrates Bulgarian Heritage

Odesa Oblast in Ukraine marked 94 years since its establishment on Friday, said the head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, Oleh Kiper, on his Telegram channel.

Kiper said in his message: “The historic date of the founding of Odesa Oblast is February 27, 1932. Nearly a century of events, changes, trials and development. Today we mark this day amid a full-scale war, following another enemy attack, but with the same indomitable spirit that has always characterized our region.”

“Odesa Oblast was formed as a southern outpost of Ukraine, a region by the sea at the crossroads of trade routes and cultures. People of different nationalities have always lived here, and this diversity is our strength and distinctiveness,” the regional governor added.

“Over these decades, the region has experienced various historical periods. Today, Odesa Oblast hosts communities and ports, producers and educators, doctors and rescuers, military personnel and volunteers. Even during wartime, Odesa Oblast stands firm and works for the future,” Kiper noted.

History of Odesa Oblast

Odesa Oblast was established by decision of the fourth extraordinary session of the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee of the 12th convocation on February 9, 1932.

The resolution came into effect on February 27, 1932, incorporating four cities under regional jurisdiction (Odesa, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv and Kherson) and 46 districts.

On February 15, 1954, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Izmail Oblast was abolished and its territory transferred to Odesa Oblast. This resulted in the incorporation of the Ukrainian part of Bessarabia into Odesa Oblast.

The administrative centre of Odesa Oblast is the city of Odesa. The oblast comprises seven districts: Odeskyi, Podilskyi, Berezivskyi, Rozdilnianskyi, Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, Bolhradskyi and Izmailskyi, and 91 territorial communities, as well as seven cities of regional significance.

As of January 1, 2021, the population was 2,368,107 residents. Odesa Oblast covers an area of 33,310 square kilometres.

Bulgarians in Odesa Oblast

Bulgarians in Odesa Oblast number over 150,000, making them the third-largest ethnic group according to the latest official census in Ukraine. Around 50,000–60,000 Bulgarians live in the city of Odesa alone. The largest concentrated Bulgarian populations outside the city of Odesa are in the Bolhrad, Izmail and Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi districts.

City of Odesa

The city of Odesa has served as a port for Bulgarian settlers since its founding in 1794. Odesa became the first Bulgarian literary and cultural centre in the land of today’s Ukraine during the Bulgarian National Revival (18th-19th centuries). Bulgarian settlement in Odesa began in the 1820s and increased during the 1830s due to Russia’s wars with Turkey, the city’s economic growth, the strengthening of Russian political and cultural influence in Bulgaria, and the emergence of a new Bulgarian intelligentsia.

The name of the Bulgarian poet and revolutionary Hristo Botev is closely associated with Odesa. He arrived there on November 14, 1863, and studied at the Second Odesa Gymnasium with a classical profile. In Odesa, he wrote his first poem, “Maytse si.” Botev also studied for one academic year at the Faculty of History and Philology at Odesa University. During 1869–70, he lived and taught in Izmail, often visiting Bolhrad. His memory in modern Ukraine remains alive, with monuments erected in places linked to him and the Bulgarian community, including Odesa, Izmail, Artsyz and Zadunayivka (Odesa Oblast), Olshanka (Kirovohrad Oblast) and Botievo (Zaporizhzhia Oblast).

On one of Odesa’s central streets, Sofiivska Street, there is a memorial plaque to the prominent poet and writer Ivan Vazov, who lived there during his exile and began writing the first Bulgarian novel, Under the Yoke.

In independent Ukraine, on the initiative of the Odesa-Bulgarian Society, the city council officially authorized a monument to Saints Cyril and Methodius in front of the Humanities building of Odesa National University. The monument, donated to the Bulgarian community in Ukraine by the Bobokov brothers, was unveiled on May 24, 2007.

A memorial plaque to educator and merchant Vasil Aprilov was unveiled in Odesa on May 24, 2016, through the initiative of two local Bulgarian organizations in Odesa, the Congress of Bulgarians in Ukraine and the Bulgarian People’s Assembly. The plaque is mounted on a central street building at 29 Bunin Street.

On March 4, 2024, on the initiative of the Bulgarian Consulate General in Odesa and the National Press Club of the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA), a memorial plaque to writer Aleko Konstantinov was unveiled at the Faculty of Law of Odesa National University, where he studied law from 1881 to 1885.

On June 24, 2023, BTA opened a National Press Club in Odesa, thereby embedding itself in the cultural, educational and social life of the largest historical Bulgarian community outside Bulgaria, located within modern Ukraine.

Bolhrad

The administrative centre of Bolhrad District is Bolhrad, founded in 1821 by Bulgarian settlers. It is considered the unofficial capital of Bessarabian Bulgarians and the cultural centre of the Bulgarian colonies in Bessarabia.

Bolhrad has three pillars that uphold the Bulgarian spirit in Bessarabia. First is the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Lord, built with funds from Bulgarian settlers in 1838, designed by architect Avram Melnikov and covering 2,000 square metres. Over 10,000 people participated in the construction. Services have been conducted in Bulgarian, Romanian and Church-Slavonic since its consecration on October 29, 1838 – celebrated today as Bessarabian Bulgarians’ Day.

The second pillar is educational – Bolhrad Gymnasium “Georgi Sava Rakovski,” opened in 1858 through the efforts of leading Bulgarians in Bolhrad. It was the first Bulgarian gymnasium of the National Revival, opening on June 28, 1858, with the support of Moldovan governor Nikola Bogoridi. The school trained the first political, educational and cultural figures in post-Liberation Bulgaria after 1878. In 1999, a bust of Georgi Rakovski by Bulgarian sculptor Ivan Lazarov was unveiled at the main entrance. Today, the gymnasium educates around 550 students from 18 settlements in Bolhrad District (mostly Bulgarian villages) and other Odesa districts.

On October 20, 2012, the historical pillar was complemented by the Memorial of Bulgarian Volunteers, established through the initiative of the Association of Bulgarians in Ukraine and the local Bulgarian community. Designed by Odesa architect of Bulgarian origin Nikolai Bazan, the monument is an obelisk with plaques on four sides bearing the names of nearly 250 Bessarabian Bulgarian volunteers who joined the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, part of a total of 7,444 volunteers in the campaign.

Izmail

The founding of Izmail is traditionally dated to 1590. Following the settlement of Bulgarian migrants in Bessarabia during the 19th century, some settled in this Danubian town. Bulgarians in Izmail now constitute the third-largest ethnic group, numbering around 8,000, or 10% of the population.

Izmail is also connected with Hristo Botev, who worked there as a teacher. In his honour, a bust and a memorial plaque have been established. The bust is located in the courtyard of the main building of Izmail State Humanitarian University, and the memorial plaque at the Izmail Polytechnic Lyceum was restored and unveiled on September 5, 2020, commemorating the 135th anniversary of the Unification of Bulgaria. In the 19th century, this site housed a state parish school where Botev taught Bulgarian in 1869–70. The first plaque there was installed in 1980.