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Pencho Raykov House

- Veliko Tarnovo Street 2 -
The residential building, which was built in 1905, was built for Pencho Nikolov Raykov, who was a Bulgarian chemist who worked mainly in the field of organic chemistry. He was born in 1864 in in the family of the rich merchant Nikola Raykov and Toma Ekimova. In 1879 he started his secondary education at the boarding school of in the city of , which he completed in 1883. In 1883 he started his studies in chemistry at the University of , where he graduated in 1888. In 1885 he took part in the as a volunteer in the so-called student legion. His article, published in 1886 in Hemishe Centralblatt, is considered the first scientific publication by a Bulgarian author in the field of chemistry.
Pencho Nikolov Raykov when he was studying in Nikolaev
After his return to Bulgaria, he became a teacher at the Pedagogical School in , and from 1890, at the First Sofia Boys' High School, as well as at the Sofia University. He conducts research on oxidation processes and the mechanism of assimilation, and he creates new laboratory instruments. He also works in the field of analytical chemistry. From 1892 he was a full-time lecturer at the university, and from 1894 until his retirement in 1935 he headed the department of organic chemistry. In 1900, he became a full member of the , today the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. From 1908 until 1909, he was the rector of the university.
Pencho Raykov in his laboratory
In 1897, he married Gertruda Raykova and together they had two daughters. One of his daughters, the chemist , was born in 1893 and later in 1918, became his assistant at the Sofia University and his other daughter Eleonora Raykova became a teacher. Pencho Nikolov Raykov passed away on June 24, 1940, at the age of 75.

The building was donated to the state by one of his daughters with the wish that it would be used as a kindergarten. In 1978 the building became the new central building of the kindergarten, now named after Pencho Raykov, which was founded in the winter of 1953.
Pencho Raykov and Gertruda Raykova
The building, which contains some Art Nouveau elements, is built in a style that resembles a Swiss chalet. The top of the gable, which is located on the northern side of the building, is embellished with a beautiful wooden with a on top of it. The roof overhang is supported by wooden . Above some of the windows, you can see a frame that contains four , as well as a . Some of the keystones are decorated with the technique of , which also counts for the . The two that are placed between the first and second floor, are adorned with a wavy pattern. There's also a memorial plaque that states that the academician and chemist Pencho Raykov lived in this building.
The building in the 1970s