bg Sofia

Ivan Shishmanov House

- Shipka Street 11 -
The residential and commercial building was built in 1910 and was built for the philologist, university lecturer, writer and politician Ivan Dimitrov Shishmanov. He was a politician of the People's Liberal Party and was born in on June 22, 1862, in the Shishmanov family. In 1888, Shishmanov was one of the founders of the Sofia High School where he was a Professor of General Literary and Cultural History, as well as of Comparative Literary History. From 1918 to 1919 he was a Bulgarian Minister Plenipotentiary in the Ukrainian People's Republic during the reign of Pavlo Skoropadsky. He was sent to by Tsar because Shishmanov was married to the Ukrainian Lydia Shishmanova. He died in Oslo on June 23, 1928, at the age of 66.

Lydia Mikhailovna Shishmanova was a Ukrainian and Bulgarian writer, journalist, theater and music critic, translator, and public figure. She was born on October 17, 1866, in Kiev, Ukraine, in the family of the Ukrainian philosopher, historian, folklorist, and fighter for the revival of Ukraine Professor and the famous actress . In 1889, the couple moved to Bulgaria, where Lydia Shishmanova became part of the intellectual elite and for the next 40 years she was among the most active public figures in areas such as women's rights, the development of Bulgarian art and culture, and the presentation of the cause of Bulgaria.
Ivan Dimitrov Shishmanov and Lydia Mikhailovna Shishmanova
Their son Dimitar Ivanov Shishmanov, was a Bulgarian politician, writer, and diplomat. From 1943 until 1944 he was the Bulgarian Foreign Minister in the government of Dobri Bozhilov. From 1919 to 1932 he was head of the Reparation Commission and from 1932 to 1935 of the Department of Justice of the Ministry of the Interior. During this time he published most of his plays and short stories. From 1935 to 1940, Dimitar Shishmanov was Minister Plenipotentiary of Bulgaria in and from 1940 to 1943 he was Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Religions in the office of Professor Bogdan Filov. In the autumn of 1943, he became Minister of Foreign Affairs and Religions and remained in office until the summer of 1944. After the coup of in 1944, he was arrested and sentenced to death by the People's Court and executed on February 1, 1945. The death penalty was revoked in 1996.
Dimitar Ivanov Shishmanov
The style of the building is minimalist and simple, but it still stands out from the surrounding buildings. The middle part of the main facade, which has a gable on top of it, really stands out from the rest of the facade. Underneath the gable and between the two circle top windows, there is a with the initials И.Ш. (I.SH.). A parenthesis-shaped ornament is decorating the top of the windows. Every corner of the building is decorated with that give the facade a multidimensional feeling.

On the right side of the main facade, there is a plaque indicating that Ivan Dimitrov Shishmanov lived in this building.
The plaque in honor of Ivan D. Shishmanov