Giurgiu Played Key Role in Bulgaria’s National Revival, Says Romanian Historian

Martin Penev

Romanian historian Emil Paunescu speaking at a BTA-organized conference in Ruse that commemorates a December 1875 decision by the Giurgiu Revolutionary Committee to launch the 1876 April Uprising in Bulgaria. Ruse, on the Danube, December 17, 2025 (BTA Photo/Bisser Todorov)

Ruse, on the Danube,

17.12.2025 12:50

(BTA)

Giurgiu contributed to the Bulgarian National Revival in the 19th century, Romanian historian Emil Paunescu said here Wednesday. He was speaking at a BTA-organized conference in Ruse that commemorates a December 1875 decision by the Giurgiu Revolutionary Committee to launch the 1876 April Uprising in Bulgaria.

The event brought together academics, public officials, diplomats, journalists, and students from Bulgaria and Romania. It is part of a joint initiative of BTA, the Bulgarian National Television (BNT), and Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), called “14 Centuries of Bulgaria in Europe” for commemorating anniversaries in Bulgarian history that are significant for European history through to 2032, when 1,400 years will be marked since the establishment in 632 of the first Bulgarian state in Europe - Old Great Bulgaria.

Paunescu highlighted that in the late 19th century, the Bulgarian community in Giurgiu had its own private school, and after 1869, several Bulgarian children attended the state gymnasium alongside Romanian students, later becoming officers, lawyers, and doctors. Two Bulgarian printing houses operated in the city: one producing primers and periodicals, and another publishing Nova Bulgaria newspaper, published by Hristo Botev.

He noted that the Giurgiu Revolutionary Committee, chaired by Stefan Stambolov, first met at Nikola Obretenov’s home and later in a house on the city outskirts, where plans for the April 1876 uprising were drawn up. Paunescu also emphasized Romanian authorities’ involvement in events prior to the arrest of Botev’s detachment, including investigations by the prefect, prosecutor, and a delegate from the Minister of Foreign Affairs, which aimed to mislead the Turkish spies.

Emil Paunescu is the former director of the museum in Giurgiu and an expert in the history of international intellectual cooperation and the Russo-Romanian-Turkish War of 1877–1878. He is co-author of seven volumes of research and documents, as well as eight anthologies of literary and historical texts.

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