Russian Eyewitnesses of the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Europeanisation and Development of Sofia

Abstract

In Bulgarian history, the period from the liberation of the country in 1878 to the so-called “wars for national unification” of 1912–1918 was one of progressive development aimed at joining Europe. One of the signs of a “modern” European state was the capital, which would demonstrate that a young Principality / Kingdom shared European cultural values. Using Russian travelogues of the time, this article pieces together a picture of the city during this period. The “European / Asian (Turkish)” dichotomy, equivalent to that of the “light world of the future / dark world of the past”, dominates the descriptions. Among the main features of the European city of the early twentieth century, three were significant: clean and wide streets, tall stone houses, and the usage of technology. At this time, Sofia was only moving towards this ideal, and the transformation did not affect the whole city. The speed of this movement was nevertheless so great that it amazed Russian eyewitnesses. In most cases, they did not see the shortcomings of the urban environment and the outskirts, which retained an Oriental look. The Bulgarians themselves were proud of the new look of Sofia, despite the fact that the subject of this pride was not original. However, it can be concluded that the Bulgarians understood the European cultural values associated with a city. Despite this, urban values did not become one of the foundations of the Bulgarian value system.