Sliven Regional Library celebrated 195 years since the birth of its patron, the prominent citizen Sava Dobroplodni, on 3 and 4th of December 2015

On 3 and 4 December 2015. Sliven Regional Library organized a celebration of 195 years since the birth of its patron Sava Dobroplodni, as the last event of the program, dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the cultural institution.

The program of the celebration of the anniversary of Sava Dobroplodni began on December 3^rd, 2015 at 10: 30 am with flowers offering to the monument of Sava Dobroplodni in the pantheon of National Revival at the monument of Hadji Dimitar. Tribute to one of the most honored citizen of Sliven gave Dimitar Syarov- the Governor of Sliven Region, employees of Sliven regional library, citizens.

The program lasted from 1:00 pm with a ceremony for lending awards for "contributions to the development of the library", which were awarded annually to the most generous sponsors of the cultural institution and personalities who with their expertise and prestige have helped the realization of its important cultural projects.

Guests at the ceremony and part of the events dedicated to the celebration were Pepa Chilikova – a deputy mayor of Sliven Municipality, Dimitar Mitev – a Chairman of the Municipal Council of Sliven, Milena Cholakova – a Chairwoman of the Commission for education, culture and religion at the Municipal Council - Sliven, researchers, historians, media representatives and citizens.

Three prizes were awarded in the jubilee year for the library. Igor Chipev who as director of the National Center for Book and later as a head of various departments in the Ministry of Culture in the past twenty years supported initiatives and international projects of the library and actively contribute to the transformation of the National Children’s Book Festival as a unique cultural event of international prestige was rewarded the award "Lifetime Achievement". The award was handed in by Mrs. Pepa Chilikova – a Deputy mayor of Sliven Municipality.

Winners of the annual award for "contributions to the development of the library" for 2015 were also Valery Chulin – an Executive Director of "Vini Corporation" and Zdravko Kostadinov -manager of "TRITON Ltd.". The awards were handed in by the director of the library, Rositsa Petrova-Vasileva.

The documentary exhibition "One life in favor of homeland", dedicated to the life and work of the prominent citizen Sava Dobroplodni was opened by Rositsa Petrova-Vasileva. In her speech, she briefly presented the contributions of Dobroplodni for the spiritual and cultural awakening of the nation, his longtime work as a teacher and educator, prolific writer, fighter for spiritual freedom, the father of Bulgarian theater, the initiator of the creation of many community centers - the first cultural institutions  in our enslaved at that time homeland, a public activist, organizer of the first celebration of the Day of the Saints Cyril and Methodius as a national holiday of the Bulgarian Alphabet and Slavic Culture / May 11^th, 1856/. Rositsa Petrova focused her speech also on the presented in the exhibition interesting documents, photos, letters, first editions of his books: "Igionomiya, that means rules for a good health" / Istanbul, 1846 / - defined as the first guide in health care in our country; "Guide for mutual instruction schools” /Zemun, 1852 / - the first systematic pedagogical book in Bulgarian; "Pismovnik" (Pismennik) / Zemun, 1853 / - the first manual in style in the history of the new Bulgarian literature; "Mihal. A Comedy in four acts"/ Zemun, 1853 / - which marked the beginning of Bulgarian drama; "Sunday Gospels and apostles ...". /Bolhrad, 1866 / - the first interpretation of the Gospel texts in the new Bulgarian language; "Short autobiography" / Sofia, 1893/ - contained very valuable materials for the study of major educational and cultural transformations in the Bulgarian Revival and publications related to his life and work. Special attention was paid to the restored photo of the house of Dobroplodni by a documentary movie about Sliven from the early XX century. The house was demolished 70 years ago and a picture of it had not been found in any archive. The initiative of the library, supported by the historian Vasil Detchev and other Sliven public figures, for its recovery or appropriately designation was declared.

A scientific conference entitled "Sava Dobroplodni - life and work. New researches" was opened in a hall of the regional library at 1:30 pm. Dr. Rositsa Petrova-Vasileva was the keynote speaker of the conference. Other presenters were: Prof. D.Sc Nadia Danova / BAS /, Prof. D.Sc Ivan Rusev / Unievrsity of Economics-Varna /, Prof. Dr. Maria Nikolova /UNIBIT /, Prof. Dr. M. Stoyadinov /Veliko Tarnovo University /, Assist. Dr. Yassen Borislavov / Sofia University /, Dr. Rositsa Petrova Vassileva, etc. The reports from the scientific conference will be issued in a collection of reports.

Open lessons dedicated to the life and work of Sava Dobroplodni were held with students from clubs "Young Revival" of III primary school "Dr. Ivan Seliminski", XII primary school "Elisaveta Bagryana” and High school of humanitarian sciences "Damyan Damyanov" on December 4th, 2015. Lecturer of the lessons was the director of the library - Rositsa Petrova-Vasileva. Prof. D.Sc Ivan Rusev also took part in one of the lessons.

A documentary exhibition "One life in favor of homeland" was exposed until 11th of December. Open classes with students from other schools were held from 8 to 11^th of December 2015.

The merits of Sava Dobroplodni for educational and cultural advancement of the Bulgarian nation is incalculable. Such a person should not sink into oblivion. Therefore Sliven Regional Library will continue to initiate activities for the study and promotion of his life and work.