Days before the opening of the academic year, the University Library presents an exhibition on the occasion of the 170th anniversary of the birth of Konstantin Jireček.
Jireček’s works are presented thematically and cover the fields of Bulgarian literature, teaching, geographical works and historical writings. Visitors can see Jireček’s correspondence with Bulgarian scholars, politicians and university professors, as well as researches about the author of the first academic work on Bulgarian history with an outstanding contribution to our history after the Liberation, science, education and culture.
Exhibited in the central displays are: his first scientific work “Knigopis na novobalgarskata knizhnina: 1806-1870”, the dissertation “Dějiny národa Bulharského” (History of the Bulgarians), translated into German, Russian and Bulgarian, as well as the first editions of „Patuvania po Bulgaria“, „Knyazhestvo Bulgaria“ i „Balgarski dnevnik“. The highlight of the exhibition are the copies with gift inscriptions and handwritten notes by the author.
Konstantin Jireček’s relationship with Stoyan Argirov – librarian, philologist, historian, editor, translator, treasurer of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, who was in charge of the University Library for more than 36 years – is also revealed. Over the years, their relationship grew from professor/student to author/translator. To Stoyan Argirov we owe the translations into Bulgarian of „Hristiyanskiyat element v topograficheskata nomenklatura na Balkanskite zemi“ (1898), „Patuvania po Bulgaria“ (1899) „Balgarski dnevnik“ (1930-32), with explanatory notes and indexes, and others. His merit is the purchasing the Jireček Archive and preserving it at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
The exhibition will be on display until the end of October 2024.