site.btaBulgarians in Croatia Pay Tribute to 19th-Century Bishop Who Supported National Revival

A Bulgarian delegation visited the Croatian town of Dakovo on Saturday ahead of Bulgaria’s National Awakeners’ Day (November 1). They laid wreaths at the grave of Bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer (1815-1905) as a gesture of gratitude and respect for his contribution to the revival of the Bulgarian nation.

The delegation was comprised of Bulgarian Ambassador to Croatia Iva Kruleva, representatives of the National Community of Bulgarians in Croatia led by its Chair Rashko Ivanov, the representative of the Bulgarian minority in the City Council of the capital Zagreb, Pero Diankov, and Bulgarians living in Croatia.

In the second half of the 19th century, school pupils and university students from Bulgaria completed their education in Zagreb with the financial and moral support of Bishop Strossmayer. He also played a major role in the publication of the collection Bulgarian Folk Songs by the Miladinov brothers in 1861.

Following the ceremony, the Bulgarian delegation was received by Duro Hranic, Archbishop and Metropolitan of Dakovo-Osijek. He expressed his satisfaction at the traditional meeting with the Bulgarian ambassador to Croatia and the delegation of the Bulgarian community.

“Our meeting confirms the centuries-old friendship between our two peoples and the excellent relations between various institutions in Croatia and Bulgaria, particularly in the fields of culture and science,” said the Archbishop.

Ambassador Kruleva and Chair Ivanov thanked him for the warm welcome and agreed with him on a programme to mark the National Awakeners’ Day again next year, which will coincide with the 165th anniversary of the publication of the Miladinov brothers’ Bulgarian Folk Songs.

A brochure titled The History that Connects Us: The Pejacevic Family and Bulgaria was presented in the main hall of the Catholic Theological Faculty in Dakovo. It is dedicated to the connections of the aristocratic Pejacevic family with Bulgaria and was published with the support of the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry and the Croatian-Bulgarian Society in Zagreb. The publication was presented by Rashko Ivanov, Iva Kruleva, and Diana Glasnova. Glasnova is editor-in-chief and author of the texts in the brochure, Secretary General of the Croatian-Bulgarian Society in Zagreb and editor-in-chief of the bilingual Bulgarian-Croatian magazine Rodna Rech, published by the National Community of Bulgarians in Croatia.

The presentation was attended by Archbishop Duro Hranic, the Croatian linguist and university professor, Academician Stepan Damjanovic, the Deputy Chair of the literary, scientific, and educational institution Matica Hrvatska, Pero Diankov, members of cultural organizations, and Bulgarians living in Croatia.