Over the years, in various articles, we have taken you on virtual walks through the old Plovdiv neighborhoods and have told you more about their history and exciting inhabitants. Recently, we did a photo tour of the cultural, historical, and architectural heritage 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. We have also virtually guided you through the Hadzhi Hasan Mahala and the narrow streets of Gul Bahcha in present-day Plovdiv. Today, however, we will tell you a bit more about the area around the "St. Ludwig'' cathedral.
This area was formed along with the establishment of the city as the seat of the Southern Catholic Diocese in Bulgaria around 1850-1860. It existed until around 1950. Since then, the district has been part of the city center and is populated not only by Catholics.
In the "Plan of the Town of Plovdiv and its Surroundings" map, published in 1827 and composed by the French officer of the reserve Jagerschmid, a Catholic monastery, a church, and a hospital are marked. Around them, during the time of Bishop Ivan Ptacek, the district began to form itself, and this was continued by Bishop Andrea Canova in the years to follow.
In the 1850s, after the construction of the "St. Ludwig" cathedral church, the bishop undertook a strategic move to form an entire Catholic quarter. He supported the construction of other buildings and institutions besides the church. He built the "St. Andrew" School for boys, while "St. Joseph" School for girls was entrusted to the Josephites (The Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart), and was housed in the newly built Capuchin monastery. Bishop Canova also bought out the properties adjacent to the Catholic institutions and gave them away to Catholics to build houses, and the people later paid off the church. Thus, in a short time, 40 houses were built around the cathedral. He also oversaw the purchase of properties by Catholics in the villages of Komatevo and Belozem. In order to support the diocese, he bought a farm with an area of 1260 acres in Branipole village.
Photo source: Bulgarian Archives State Agency
At the beginning of the 20th century, a small street in the Catholic district bore the name of "Byelu Dominu", which in 1952 was renamed "Praga". In 1868, a Catholic seminary was opened. Later, Bishop Francesco Reinaudi, Canova's successor, built the nunnery "St. Elizabeth" for the Franciscan tertiary nuns. In 1872, he built an orphanage within the monastery. The Bulgarian nun sisters were caretakers and tutors at the orphanage. In 1882, Bishop Reinaudi founded a Catholic hospital, which was considered to be ahead of its time. After World War I, the construction of a new hospital building began in the "Sveshtarovi Livadi" area. Today, the building is used by the Military Hospital Plovdiv. In 1867, the French explorer Guillaume Lejean drew a map of Plovdiv in which he marked the "Pavlikian Mahala." On this map, the district had a triangular shape between Stanimashka Street to the west (approximately today's bul. "Tsar Boris III Obedinitel"), Constantinople Street to the north (renamed and with a new route - bul. "Knyaginya Maria Luiza"), and to the east and south ends of the town. According to the great Plovdiv chronicler Nikola Alvadzhiev, the district extended east to the Kamenitsa Brewery and to the present-day Kamenitsa district, where, south of the Capuchin church, once there was a lake known as the "Dove Lake".
The city grassland, where cattle were taken to eat, spread across the area behind the church. The Hadzhi Hasan Mahala (Adzhisan Mahala or Adzhisana), which is located northwest of the Catholic neighborhood and “Dove Lake '', is represented in the film "After the End of the World'' (1998). This district is also known for its many beloved taverns such as: "Topalcheto", "Novichkoto", "Na Madzhara", "Kulata", "Prespa", and "Pashata". They were the so-called pioneers of appetizers made from offal (tripe soup, lamb heads, tongue, etc.), as well as zhulva (turtles) and frog legs. The district existed as a community until the 1950s. With the urban development of Plovdiv in the 1960s and 1970s, new and wider streets and boulevards were built through the neighborhood. The properties of many families were expropriated. Many of the families were relocated to apartment blocks in other parts of the town. During this period, Adzhisana lost its character as a religious community. Only Pavlikian Street, which kept its old name and size, reminds us of the district’s past today.
The article is based on information from the book "Encyclopedia of Plovdiv 2" by Bozhidar Totev.
Тhere are no comments yet.