bg Sofia

Petar Zabov House

- Solunska Street 51 -
The residential building was built around 1900 for the Bulgarian lawyer and public figure Petar Zabov. He was born in 1863 in , at that time the Ottoman Empire. After completing his secondary education in Sofia, he studied law in . When the was declared, in 1885 he volunteered to fight at the front in the Student Legion, together with many other Bulgarian students from all over Europe. After the war, he moved to Sofia and took an active part in the public life of the young state.

From 1917 until 1918 he was a member of the Pomoravski National Education Committee. In 1919 he was one of the authors of the Address Plebiscite of the people of Pirot living in Bulgaria, with which he protested against the inclusion of the Pirot as part of Serbia. He died on March 9, 1944, in Sofia.

From 1905, the building was inhabited by the writer and public figure Konstantin Velichkov, who was born in 1855, in . He received his education at the Galatasaray High School in where he studied from 1868 to 1874. After returning to his home town he became a teacher in geography, history, French and Bulgarian. Soon after, he became an active member of the local revolutionary committee aiming at liberating Bulgaria from Ottoman domination.
Konstantin Velichkov
Immediately after the end of the , which resulted in the creation of a new liberated Bulgarian state, Velichkov returned to Pazardzhik. He started a political career and in 1894 became minister at the ministry of education. All this time he actively participated in the strive for between and the Principality of Bulgaria, which took place in 1885. Konstantin Velichkov died on his way to in November 1907. Two years later his remains were returned to Sofia.

From 1910, General Radko Dimitriev lived in the building. He was born on September 24, 1859, in the village of and was raised by his grandmother in . He later studied in the Aprilov Gymnasium in and in 1876 he participated in the organization of the . During the Russo-Turkish War, he was a translator in the 2nd Guards Division of the Russian Army. He was one of the initiators of the against Prince of Battenberg, for which he was exiled by Prime Minister . After the fall of Stefan Stambolov, he returned to Bulgaria and participated in the Serbo-Bulgarian War, the , the , and served in the Russian Army as a commander in the . After the in 1917, Radko Dimitriev fled to the resort town of , where in October 1918 he was executed by the .

From 1939 until 1944, the office of Doctor Lyuben Zabov, doctor of the Soviet Legation, was located on the first floor. The office was also used for conspiratorial meetings between officials from the legation and illegal Bulgarians.
Radko Dimitriev
What immediately catches the eye is the beautiful wood-carved main entrance door of this Neo-Classical building. The door is decorated with geometric forms, a with a Corinthian , and a broken with a decorative vase in its midst. The door is flanked by four pilasters with Doric capitals, which are also used to flank the windows on the first floor. Above it, you can see a pointed pediment, which is flanked by two globes and supported by four . Another pointed pediment is placed above one of the windows on the second floor, while all the other windows are topped with a straight pediment. Underneath these pediments, you'll be able to see an ornament, which is decorated with . The brick relief and the really give the building an extra dimension.
A photo from the 1970s showing the building