Once again, the guides from association 365 - Adelina Kalapchieva, and the Bulgarian Modernist Architecture Foundation - Teodor Karakolev, managed to take us on an exciting journey through the past and the architecture of Plovdiv. The theme on Sunday afternoon was Jewish heritage and the tour lasted over 2 hours and revealed many interesting facts and stories.
Evidence that the city under the hills was inhabited by Jews dates back to the 3rd century, and archaeological research indicates that at that time there was a synagogue near the Church of St. Petka.
Subsequently, researchers found more data on the mass migration of Jews from the 15th century, when large groups from Spain, Germany and Romania moved here, and connected them with the information about the creation of the Jewish community under the hills (mainly the Sephardic Jews from Spain).
They were most numerous in the years before the Second World War, but after it and after the founding of the Israeli state, their number decreased sharply.
We start our tour in the area of the Three Hills, where our first stop was the Isak Behar building, designed by the architect Hristo Peev in 1942.
With it, due to the irregular shape of the plot, Hristo Peev used one of the ideas of the Revival architecture, namely – the use of triangular bay windows to ensure the correct shape of the premises. An interesting detail that you can see on the landing is a mosaic that represents the Star of David and the owner's initials IB.
We continue along the central city street, where an interesting example, including some of the earliest signs of the emerging modernism – horizontal stucco profiles on the corners, balconies with horizontal metal elements ending in an expressive semicircle and a flat roof, is the Albert Panigel building. It was built in 1932, but subsequently it can clearly be seen that it was upgraded with another floor during the socialist period. In the past, a quilter was housed on the lower floor, and upstairs lived the famous photographer Henrih Hershkovich, whose shots from Plovdiv are still admired today. He is one of the two Jews with streets in Plovdiv bearing their names.
The guides then take us into the heart of the Jewish Quarter, which is believed to have stretched within the boundaries around the foot of Sahat Tepe, the streets locked between Hristo G. Danov Street and Thursday Market, to the Marasha district in the west.
The Jewish cultural center, pat of which is the Shalom Aleichem community center, is located on Hristo G. Danov Street. It was founded in 1945 with 600 books. At present, many languages and arts are taught here and the library already has thousands of readers and volumes of literature. The building was designed in 1923, by the architect Kamen Petkov, as some of its elements and the many decorations were in a rather outdated style for its time, since at that time modernism was already actively entering.
On Hristo G. Danov Street itself, many of the houses belong to Jews. Here was the home of Haim Adroke - the grandfather of Yvet Anavi, of Dr. Sarov, who was sent out to Shiroka Laka, but subsequently the whole family moved to Israel, and to this day his heirs are doctors in Israel, etc.
On the neighboring street - Beethoven, you can also come across many buildings, formerly owned by representatives of the Jewish community. Currently, many of them house offices of a number of banks.
Along the Thursday market, one of the stops is the house of Simo Kalev, who was a famous banker. It was built around 1900, in the Secession style. An interesting fact is that his great-great-granddaughter is the winner of the Nobel Prize related to climate change - Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo.
We also stop at the second street, named after a representative of the Jewish community - Eliezer Moshe Kalev. It is known that he was quite close to the Ottomans and used this influence to actively help the Bulgarians and even Vasil Levski.
From there we continue to one of the few synagogues currently operating in the country - Zion. Tucked away between residential buildings and in the small streets, hardly many of us know where it is. It was built about 140 years ago in a neo-Byzantine Moorish style, with many blue motifs and an impressive Viennese chandelier.
Men and women are separated in service and it is important to note that there are no images in the synagogue. During communism, it was used as a warehouse.
Towards the end of the tour, we return to some more tragic events related to the Jews in Plovdiv and Bulgaria. On the site of today's Druzhba private school, there used to be a Jewish school, in whose yard on March 10, 1943, the Jews of Plovdiv were gathered to be transported to the concentration camps. Fortunately, the state managed to save all those with Bulgarian citizenship.
The last stop is the Gratitude Monument – the only one of its kind in the country, right across from the House of the Newlyweds. It is an expression of the gratitude of the Bulgarian Jews for their rescue. It represents a shofar - a ritual horn used in Sabbath services and is the work of the sculptor Atanas Karadechev. It was opened on March 10, 1998, on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of their rescue and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Israeli state.
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