The Question of Bulgaria’s Future Capital in the Decades before Its Liberation (1860–1878)

Authors:

Pages: 97-104
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54664/WXZJ5542

Abstract:

The question of the various proposals for a future capital of independent Bulgaria during the 60s and 70s of the 19th century (before the country’s liberation from the Ottoman Empire) is yet to be fully resolved by Bulgarian historians. The available information on the subject is partially based on personal opinions (of both Bulgarian and foreign authors) and partially recorded in official documents like projects and contracts. The purpose of this article is to familiarize the reader with those various proposals and to analyse their chances. The proposals are divided and studied into two groups – Bulgarian ones and foreign ones. In the decades prior to Bulgaria’s liberation, a total of six proposals for the future capital of the country were discussed, namely Ruse, Tarnovo, Sofia, Plovdiv, Edirne, and Thessaloniki, but even as late as 1879 nothing had been decided yet. Ultimately, the problem was solved by the Bulgarian population itself, at the Constituent Assembly in Tarnovo, where Sofia was chosen as the capital of the Principality of Bulgaria.

Keywords:

capital city of liberated Bulgaria; 1860s and 1870s; Bulgarian and foreign proposals for a capital city.

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