In one of our previous articles, we told you that Plovdiv - and Bunardzhika hill in particular - are connected with a dream of Tsar Ferdinand to build a large palace complex near the hills. As early as 1892, he liked the place around Bunardzhika hill, where great parties and balls were constantly held, and a little later he requested it from the municipal administration. There they knew that if they gave Bunardzhika to Tsar Ferdinand, they would deprive the city of a priceless asset that Plovdiv had had for centuries, but nevertheless the decision was made.
A plot of hundreds of acres was provided. It was to be turned into an imposing park with waterfalls and lakes, rare plants and animals, and in the middle of it a Plovdiv Versailles should have grown, in the likeness of the palaces left by the French kings.
At first glance, nothing could stop the implementation of the project. However, this was not the case - property owners resolutely opposed their expropriation. Trials began and lasted until 1912. After that, three wars took place, and in 1918, Tsar Ferdinand was forced to leave Bulgaria.
However, it turns out that the tsar had his summer residence under the hills and it is the house of Dr. Stoyan Chomakov in Old Plovdiv, which is one of the most remarkable monuments of the Plovdiv Revival houses. It was built in 1858 - 1860 and stands out with its impressive posture on the central street in the Old Town. Architecturally, it belongs to neoclassicism, and the inside is richly ornamented with spectacular wood-carved suns and other motifs. It was provided for Ferdinand's use by the heirs of the prominent Plovdiv physician and public figure in the period after the Liberation.
At the place of the open stage, called the Stables, they halted his carriages, and waited for him to enter his house, after which they went round through the Hissar gate, passed behind where the street was, and entered the place intended for them. In an older text for our cultural website Kapana, this story was told for us by the writer Alexander Sekulov, and the godfather of the open space popular for so many years is the Bulgarian artist Dimitar Kelbechev.
Since 1950, the Children's Department of the Ivan Vazov National Library has been housed in Dr. Chomakov's house, and after 1984, a permanent exhibition of the famous Plovdiv artist Zlatyu Boyadzhiev was placed there. In the courtyard in front of the main facade of the house, a monument to the artist has been erected.
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