In the past, we have shared stories about the famous Obreykov family and the renowned factory owner Pavel Kalpakchiev, all of whom made significant contributions to the development of Plovdiv. Today, we bring the story of yet another noble family that was integral to the social and economic life under the hills into the spotlight.
It is believed that the Gyumushgerdan family originated from the village of Boykovo. It is claimed that the forefather was Atanas Kalmukov or Kumanov. The names of his sons, Dimitar and Georgi, appear in the records of the Plovdiv master craft-guild in 1769 and 1793, respectively. They were listed under the name Gyumushgerdan because their mother wore a necklace of silver coins. The grandson of the former villager from Boykovo, who was named after his grandfather Atanas, became the master craftsman of the guild around 1800. The great fame of the family originates from the descendants of Atanas.
His descendants were Mihalaki, Dimitar, and Georgi. In 1847, they founded the second wool textile factory in Bulgaria. The buildings were constructed between the present-day villages of Purvenets and Hrabrino. One machine was brought from Vienna, and the rest were modeled after it, constructed by the self-taught Plovdiv master Atanas Sakhatchi. The swift waters of the Purvenets River powered the machines; work began at full speed and proved the pessimists wrong. The market was vast, as woolen fabrics for the Turkish army's clothing were being produced.
Although brothers by birth, the owners were very different from one another. Mihalaki Gyumushgerdan, who was extremely ambitious, embraced Greek ideas alongside his thirst for leadership and led the fight against the National Awakening of Bulgaria in Plovdiv. Georgi was a mild-mannered man. Seeing how his brother Mihalaki oppressed the people who lived in the villages of the Rhodopes to quickly earn large profits, he opposed him and left the enterprise. The youngest brother, Dimitar, became one of the activists for building a Bulgarian church in Constantinople in 1849.
The two brothers were inevitably going to face off against each other because of the course of events, but fate prevented the inevitable. In 1856, the residents of the Central Rhodopes, oppressed by Mihalaki Gyumushgerdan, sought help from one of the leaders of the Bulgarian Muslims. Having no other choice, the Rhodopeans sent a man to kill Mihalaki. However, the assassin did not know what the factory owner looked like. When he asked for a person named Gyumushgerdan, instead of Mihalaki, they showed him Dimitar. The killer fatally shot the youngest of the brothers.
In the following years, Mihalaki Gyumushgerdan’s fame peaked. He was part of the first parliament of Sultan Abdul Aziz and was elected its chairperson. He triumphantly returned from Constantinople in June 1865 and was greeted enthusiastically by the Greek population of the city. M. Apostolidis wrote that Mihalaki’s power in the Plovdiv Eparchy became equal to that of a knyaz, and the Sultan himself honored him with the title of "Bey." His wealth was enormous, and he acquired many estates. Hundreds of pages have been written about his life and activities. Greek authors praised him as almost a saint, while Bulgarian ones cursed him as a villain.
Mihalaki Gyumushgerdan generously supported Greek schools in the Plovdiv Eparchy. He founded and maintained a school in Plovdiv in memory of his late brother Dimitar and provided scholarships for students in Athens and Europe. He passed away in 1880. His sons, Atanas and Dimitar, continued his business. Atanas Gyumushgerdan was elected a deputy in the Regional Assembly of Eastern Rumelia and also served as a member of the municipal council. Dimitar Gyumushgerdan was the Vice-Consul of Spain in Plovdiv from 1894 to 1930. The diplomatic residence was located at Krakra Street 4.
On 19 March 1906, a large funeral procession escorted the prominent Plovdiv citizen Atanas Gyumushgerdan, who was the fifth generation of the noble family. Until a few years before his death, he had been a member of the municipal council and parliament. He had been known among the highest circles of society as well. The ceremony was solemn, filled with funeral orations and condolences. Just as they were about to close the coffin, someone exclaimed that Gyumushgerdan was not dead. Everyone was stunned. Plovdiv citizens still remembered the scandalous death certificates issued by incompetent doctors who had declared people who were still showing signs of life—dead. The relatives of the deceased one wondered what to do. Finally, they decided to leave Atanas Gyumushgerdan's body in the cemetery chapel overnight. The next day, the mourners gathered again by the grave.
With this scandal, the era of the Gyumushgerdan family in Plovdiv came to an end.
Some of the descendants of the great family moved to Greece, while others remained in Plovdiv and Sofia. Today, only the stone walls of the once-glorious factory remain. There is no sign left to indicate that around 60 workers once worked in this building or that on the meadow by the river, hundreds of camels once stopped, waiting to be loaded with goods for Constantinople.
Тhere are no comments yet.