site.btaLovech Embodies Bulgarians' Cult of Knowledge, Says BTA Director General

Lovech is a symbol of the Bulgarians' cult of knowledge, which makes Bulgaria an example in Europe, BTA Director General Kiril Valchev said during a local conference held here on Monday. The event was part of BTA’s Europe on Balkans: Cohesion Skills project.

Valchev pointed out that Lovech is part of the joint national and European conversations organized by BTA thanks to the National Press Club that was opened in town on May 11, 2021, namely the day of the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius, which is a holiday in Lovech. “We often hear how much money Bulgaria receives from the EU, but we must also recognize how much the EU benefits from Bulgaria and its people,” he emphasized, adding that BTA’s Europe on Balkans: Cohesion Skills project, supported by the European Commission, seeks to foster knowledge exchange between the people in Bulgaria, the Balkans, and the rest of the EU.

Valchev recalled that it was in Lovech on May 11, 1901, that the song Advance, Regenerated People (less popular by its official name Hymn to Sts Cyril and Methodius) was performed for the first time as a festive hymn praising the work of the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius and of Bulgarian education. A year later, the song was being performed in every school across the country. "There is no other European nation with a song in which its revival and bright future are connected with literature, these 'new tools of progress' and 'science that empowers'. We Bulgarians gave the EU not only the third alphabet in the Union, but also the example that science must shine like the sun in the souls, and knowledge must live, so that European nations do not fall," Valchev stressed, adding that it is no coincidence that the European Commissioner from Bulgaria, Ekaterina Zaharieva, is responsible for scientific research and innovation.

"In Lovech, we have vivid examples of the fact that a people's revival goes through the preservation of their language, the writing and knowledge of their ancestors," Valchev pointed out, noting that in 1187, the decisive battle between the Byzantine Empire and the rebel army of Asen and Peter took place at the Lovech medieval fortress on the hill, which was later called Hisarya. He also recalled that the Lovech fortress was among the last to fall during the Ottoman invasion around 1446 – half a century after the fall of Bulgaria's then capital Tarnovo.

Valchev emphasized that the only Covered Bridge of its kind in the Balkans was built here between 1872 and 1874 by Nikola Ivanov Fichev, better known as Kolyu Ficheto. The bridge not only connected the two banks of the Osam River but also connected the Bulgarian lands with the architectural trends in other European lands that also boast emblematic covered bridges. According to Valchev, during World War II, it was Lovech that symbolically began to guard the knowledge of Bulgaria, after Sofia University was evacuated due to the heavy bombing of Sofia on January 10, 1944.

The Bulgarian aircraft, which was later known as Balkan, was produced in Lovech, Valchev noted. He also spoke about the production of Balkan motorcycles and the assembly of Moskvitch Aleko passenger cars. He pointed out the fact that thanks to the aspiration of the people of Lovech for new knowledge, Bulgaria became the sixth country to send a man into space, namely Georgi Ivanov.

Valchev said that today's struggles of Bulgaria are the decreasing population of the country, as Lovech has shrunk from a population of over 50,000 people in the early 1990s, to under 30,000 in 2024. "An important goal of these conversations within the framework of the conferences [...] is to make visible all the contemporary contributions to the EU of towns like Lovech, developed with the help of the EU, in order to encourage more young Bulgarians to see the point of staying and growing in Lovech," Valchev concluded.

BTA's Europe on Balkans: Cohesion Skills project aims to raise public awareness and foster open dialogue about cohesion policy, local achievements, and the implementation of the EU's policy priorities. The project kicked off with a conference in Veliki Preslav in November 2024. The schedule of conferences until the end of September 2025 includes events in the following cities: Blagoevgrad, Burgas, Varna, Veliko Tarnovo, Vidin, Vratsa, Gabrovo, Dobrich, Kazanlak, Kardzhali, Kyustendil, Lovech, Montana, Pazardzhik, Pernik, Pleven, Razgrad, Ruse, Samokov, Svishtov, Sliven, Smolyan, Sofia, Stara Zagora, Troyan, Targovishte, Haskovo, Shumen, and Yambol. Cross-border conferences will be held in Belgrade, Bosilegrad, Bucharest, Edirne, Skopje, and Thessaloniki. The project builds on the Europe in the Balkans: A Common Future and Europe in Bulgaria: A Common Future projects, implemented by BTA in 2023 and 2024, respectively.