As many of you may know, Plovdiv is a city full of history and famous people.

We want to stop your attention on one particular person in bulgarian history, whose story is only mentioned in our tours because of lack of time- doctor Konstantin Stoilov.

The house of Doctor Konstantine Stoilov in Plovdiv.

In our tours we only pass by his house, but in our history he is real stepping stone. Born in Plovdiv, Stoilov studied at Robert College in Istanbul, before studying law at Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg to doctorate level. It is believed that he knew perfectly turkish, german, italian, french, russian and english and he is described as the most European-like politician in Bulgarian history. Stoilov was twice Prime Minister of Bulgaria (1894-1899). Between 1879-1885 he took different jobs in the government and the tsar`s administration. In 1885 he was a soldier in Bulgarian army in our war against Serbia and even won a Bravery medal.

Few years later he became vital part of Stefan Stambolov`s government- one of the masterminds in bulgarian new history. Stambolov was a genius man ( and we will be glad to tell you more about his inspiring story on our tours), but also really cruel one and in one point Stoilov could not stand anymore and resign. From this moment, they became rivals. Stoilov claimed Stambolov was a dictator, while Stambolov said Stoilov was too soft to be  a politician in Bulgaria. In 1894 Stoilov became a prime minister „dethroning“ Stambolov. Despite of his hate, he continued Stambolov economic politic and by the end of his mandate, Bulgaria was the richest country in the region. 

This blogpost is courtesy of Yasen Ovcharov.