Do you know which is Stantsionna Street? Some may not even have heard of it and others have forgotten the old name of one of the most iconic streets of our city. This is today's Ivan Vazov, which will probably be the first street you’ll remember in the city under the hills if you come by train or bus, and this is no accident. In fact, it is the street that connects the Central Railway Station, South Bus Station and Rodopi Bus Station to the very heart of the city. This time Plovdiv's guide lostinplovdiv.com will take you on a walk on it.
History
Ivan Vazov is unlike the other streets in Plovdiv. It is so colorful in terms of history, architecture and symbolism that it has to be marked in a special way on the map of the city. The pavement on which we stand today is laid down a century ago. It is said that the street is paved with stone blocks because of King Ferdinand's mud boots, who was welcomed on the Independence Day at the Central Station in 1908. And he was badly stained on his way to the Military Club, with which the street ends today.
The wide paved Stantsionna takes the name Ivan Vazov, after in 1920 the patriarch of Bulgarian literature is welcomed at a central railway station for his 50th anniversary and his holiday is a nationwide celebration. The platform of the railway station is filled to the fullest for the arrival of the folk poet. Even before he got off the train, Ivan Vazov was taken in hands and taken to a chariot in which snow-white horses were harnessed. The carriage took solemnly on the Stantsionna Street amongst a lane of numerous enthusiasts. When the procession stops at the Military Club, they tell the poet that since that time Stantsionna Street already bears his name. That is why the starting point and the end point of the street - the railway station and the Military Club - are so significant not just in architectural terms. They are related to some of the brightest moments of the history of Plovdiv since the beginning of the last century.
Ivan Vazov is also the urban area with which the industrialization of Plovdiv in the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century is most closely connected. There prominent architects have designed houses for the richest and most distinguished citizens, and today you can see the remains of the The Tobacco town where the cigarette industry was concentrated. The old and aristocratic towering tobacco warehouses with their ghostly stance are still there and continue to struggle for their lives and their existence. Opposite them, toward the center, you will encounter another emblematic building, but with a different purpose. Ivan Vazov National Library, which can’t help but catch your eye with its socappearance.
Present
Ivan Vazov is usually one of the first streets in the city which the visitors of Plovdiv pass. No matter whether you are a tourist or a student who just stepped in Plovdiv, the paved street will stand right in front of you and you won’t be able not to walk on it. Certainly a few things will make an impression on you. The first are the shelled facades of the magnificent centuries-old houses of the old Plovdiv aristocratshouses and the tobacco warehouses, which seem to shed plaster instead of tears in the hope of someone taking care of them. The others are the huge sycamore trees that are located on both sides along the street. They were planted in the last century and in the hot months they save the passers-by and traders from the hot summer sun and its burning rays.
And the third thing you can’t miss is the dozens of footwear stores. They are literally placed side by side, on or below each other, settled in small rooms. The commercial gaudinessgives a particularly eclectic vision of perhaps the most architecturally beautiful Plovdiv street. While in the past it‘s been known as the area around which the wealthiest and most influential Plovdiv people have concentrated, today it is well known for its shoe tourism, which attracts not only the locals but also the people from the neighboring places. Dozens of Bulgarian companies will offer you a variety of shoes and, of course, a variety of prices.
If you arrive in Plovdiv at one of the transport stations, take a short walk to the very center of the city, taking Ivan Vazov St. We are your Plovdiv guide, trust us.
