bg Stara Zagora

Georgi Shakhanov House

- General Gurko Street 81 -
The residential building was built for the Shakhanov family, who was a prominent Stara Zagora industrial family from the end of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, specializing in the production of spirits. The progenitor of the family is Georgi Shakhanov, who arrived in the city with a truckload of lemonade from Lozengrad, nowadays . He became an assistant to a rich merchant with the surname Shakhanov, and later married one of his daughters and took the surname Shakhanov. He became known in the city as a merchant of alcohol and owner of vineyards. He has four children, one of whom is Petko, who graduated in physics in and became one of the most famous and respected physics teachers in Bulgaria. He was the first director of the Higher Pedagogical Course in , which opened in 1909. His firstborn son Vasil was a public figure and the founder of the first Bulgarian cognac factory and distillery in Stara Zagora. The building of the Shahanov family has a facade with an extension to the side and deep cellars where the goods were stored. In 1925, when the factory closed its door, the family moved to .
An old photo showing the building
The Neo-Classical building features two dormers, one on the north and one on the south side of the building. The building contains many in different shapes and sizes that are all crowned with a Doric . The windows above the main entrance door are inlaid with . The wrought iron-barred windows contain the same motif as the gate and fences that separate the street from the premises.
A label of Vasil's factory