site.btaMay 13, 1879: Bulgarian Postal Communications Begin

Bulgaria's postal communications began 147 years ago on Wednesday.

Following is an English translation of a feature story by which BTA's Home News Desk marked the event's 135th anniversary in 2014:

"Bulgarian Posts - 135th Anniversary - History
Postal Service in Bulgaria, One of Country's First Post-Liberation Institutions, Is Celebrating its 135th Birthday

Sofia, May 13 (BTA) - The postal service in Bulgaria was one of the first institutions established after the country's liberation from Ottoman rule. The Provisional Regulations on Postal Operations in Bulgaria, which laid down the structure of the country's postal system, entered into force on May 13, 1879 (Old Style May 1) after endorsement by [the Imperial Russian Commissioner] Prince Alexander Dondukov-Korsakov on April 23, 1879 (Old Style April 11, 1879).

The Provisional Regulations were drafted by Russian postal officials Konstantin Radchenko and Vladimir Trubachev. In 79 paragraphs, the Regulations defined the local postal establishments (post offices, post branches and stations), as well as the types of postal items (sealed letters, postcards and registered correspondence), insured correspondence (parcels with declared value, money orders and letters with declared value), and the postage rates.

On May 13, 1879, all 39 postal and 26 telegraph stations and two post offices (in Sofia and Varna), together with all their equipment (1,630 km of overhead telegraph lines with 2,582 km of wires, and 64 working telegraph sets), were transferred gratuitously by the provisional Russian administration to the Bulgarian authorities.

First Postage Stamps Launched

Also on that date, the first Bulgarian postage stamps were put into circulation.

The set of five stamps is popularly known as the Centimes because of the monetary unit of their face value as required by the Universal Postal Union (Bulgaria did not yet have a national currency of its own). The stamps, depicting a crowned lion rampant, were printed at the Office for the Production of State Papers in St Petersburg. The initial quantity was 250,000. They were designed by Georgi Ya. Kirkov [who had earlier produced the official fair-copy manuscript of the first Bulgarian Constitution that was signed by the lawmakers and later on designed the first Bulgarian banknote issue]. The Centimes were used until 1896. In 1881, another set of stamps was issued, with a face value in stotinki and leva.

In 1879, letters were delivered along a network of 15 postal routes, and the mail was transported by horse-drawn carriages. The tired horses could be replaced en route at stations set up for this purpose. Postmen travelled by the carriages to collect letters from post offices and railway stations or deliver incoming mail. The main roads linking Sofia were serviced four times a week, while the others were serviced three times weekly. A letter took four days and nights to reach Ruse from Sofia by postal carriage. In a circular letter of June 1879, Bulgaria's first Interior Minister [Todor Burmov] (under whose jurisdiction the postal and telegraph services operated) acknowledged that "the postal service is undeniably essential for the governance of the country, for the flourishing of trade, for the spread of education, and so forth".

Until [the Communist takeover on] September 9, 1944, postal communications developed slowly. They mainly served the needs of the state apparatus, the army, and the economy. Post offices existed only in the larger administrative and economic centres. Only 15% of the rural routes were serviced six times a week, and only 53% of the villages used the state postal service. The number of post offices grew from 1,003 in 1944 to 3,115 in 1989. They decreased to 3,094 in 1996 and to 2,986 in 2014.

First Postcard

The postcard (or open letter) first appeared in Bulgaria in 1879. Its front was printed in pink and bore a 10-centime stamp. Produced in a large quantity, the card was still in use even in 1900. In line with newly introduced rates, new postal cards were issued at the end of May 1881 with their value marked in stotinki. There were two types: a green 5-stotinki card intended for domestic use, and a pink 10-stotinki card for international mail.

One of the rarest Bulgarian stamps is an imperforate 25-centime stamp of 1879. The most valuable Bulgarian stamp is considered to be "Tsar and Princes, Centre Inverted", popularly known as "the Upturned Cavalry". It is the most famous Bulgarian philatelic curiosity. Based on a painting by artist Jaroslav Vesin, the stamp depicts King Ferdinand and Princes Boris and Kiril on horseback during military manoeuvres.

The 50-stotinki stamp was part of a Views and Portraits set issued in 1911. It was printed at the State Securities Printing Institute in Rome, Italy. Two or three sheets were apparently fed into the press with the wrong end first, as a result of which the centre came out upside down. The defect was overlooked, and some of these stamps reached post offices and were used for franking mail. Only postmarked specimens are extant now: 30 pieces cancelled at Plovdiv's Post Office No. 1 and 2 pieces cancelled at Gyumyurdzhina (now Komotini in Greece). As few as a dozen collectors in Bulgaria own an "Upturned Cavalry", and the rest are in collections abroad.

Well-known Bulgarian stamps include "Borimechkata", issued to mark writer Ivan Vazov's 70th birth anniversary and designed by Rayko Aleksiev (1920), "10 Years Since the Accession of King Boris III", designed by Hristo Lozev (1928), and "Bleaching the Cloth", commemorating the 90th anniversary of the birth of artist Vladimir Dimitrov-Maystora, designed by Ivan Kyosev (1972).

In 1931, Bulgaria issued several stamps for the Balkan Games, including the world's first postage stamp dedicated to cycling. In 1946, Bulgaria also issued the world's first stamp devoted to chess. In 1996, a stamp made of 22-carat gold foil was produced on the occasion of Atlanta Summer Olympics.

Today, the internet and email are increasingly replacing ordinary letter mail. At present, Bulgarian Posts operates 2,981 post offices in more than 5,200 urban and rural settlements. Post offices have handled more than 25,000 letters (including registered items) and small parcels. There are around 3,000 postmen. /Maria Stratieva, Reference Department/ MG/AM/"

Bulgarian Posts operated its first temporary post office (Postal Code 1090) at the St Kliment Ohridski Bulgarian Polar Base on Livingston Island, Antarctica, in the 1994-1995 season. It was then that the first Bulgarian postage stamps on Antarctic subjects were printed. Mail originating from the Antarctic post office was postmarked "POSTE BULGARE * ANTARKTIKA * 1090".