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ACADÉMIE BULGARE DES SCIENCES
INSTITUT DÉTUDES BALKANIUES & CENTRE DE THRACOLOGIE
Soa 2022
ÉTUDES BALKANIQUES
LV / 1
MIRABILIA: TIMES, SPACES, MYTHS
Guest Editor
Vanya Lozanova-Stancheva
Ce numéro de la revue est publié avec l’aide nancière du Fonds
« Recherches scientiques »
(Ministère de l’éducation et de la science de Bulgarie)
is issue is published with the nancial support of the National Research Fund
(Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science)
ISSN 0324 – 1645
ÉTUDES BALKANIQUES
Soa 2022 LV 1
ACADÉMIE BULGARE DES SCIENCES
INSTITUT DÉTUDES BALKANIUES & CENTRE DE
THRACOLOGIE
Sommaire
MIRABILIA: TIMES, SPACES, MYTHS (ird Interdisciplinary
Conference 8 – 9 June 2021) Introduction by Vanya Lozanova-Stancheva .....5
Valeria FOL, St. Marina between Venice and the Balkans ........................................7
Vanya LOZANOVA-STANCHEVA, Towards the Sources
of the Legend of the Dragon of Rhodes ............................................................... 29
Albena GEORGIEVA, e Miraculous Pathway of Individuation .....................48
Alexandra FOL, Dening Beauty in Art: Five proisi
and Six Criteria sine qua non...................................................................................65
Vessela ATANASSOVA, A Foot of Sarapis in the National Archaeological
Institute with Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences? ................................ 80
Marta IVAYLOVA, e Elephant in an Early Christian Text.
Semantic and Linguistic Changes .........................................................................95
Orlin SABEV, An 1866 Celestial Event in the Balkans
and its Contemporary Scientic Interpretation ...............................................113
Georgeta NAZARSKA, Soa as a Sacred Space for Esoteric Societies
(nd of the 19th– First Half of the 20th Century) ..........................................134
Joanna SPASOVA-DIKOVA, Stage Incarnations
of Totalitarian Mythologems in the Bulgarian eatre ...................................159
ÉTUDES BALKANIQUES, LVІІІ, 2022, 1
5
THIRD INTERDISCIPLINARY CONFERENCE
“MIRABILIA: TIMES, SPACES, MYTHS”, 8 9 JUNE 2021
Vanya Lozanova-Stancheva
Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of racology
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Bulgaria
e present issue of ÉTUDES BALKANIUES is a product of the
ird Interdisciplinary Conference “MIRABILIA: Times, Spaces, Myths”,
organized by the Institute of Balkan Studies with Centre of racology,
Bulgarian Academy of Science with the kind support and partnership of the
American Research Centre Soa (ARCS) and held on July 8 – 9 at ARCS.
e papers in the collection outline the thematic eld covered by the program
of the conference.
e topic of the conference, as thus formulated, was meant to encourage
the research of the mirabilia– myth relation at dierent times and spaces
from dierent points of view, with various methods and theoretical tools.
e aim was to elucidate the mechanisms of constructing the phenomenon
of mirabilia through the foundational categories of time, space, and myth in
their dynamic interrelatedness.
e attempt to dene the sphere of MIRABILIA at the First Interdisci-
plinary Conference “MIRABILIA: Miracles and Monsters” led the partici-
pants to the conclusion that these are in principle unusual phenomena that
are inexplicable by natural or logical laws and presuppose the interference/
intervention of the supernatural, i.e., by God/gods or, more oen, by his/
their agents.
e emphasis of the Second Interdisciplinary Conference “MIRABILIA:
Miraculous and Magical” was placed on magic and miracles as the two poles
in the contact with the supernatural.
e ird Interdisciplinary Conference “MIRABILIA: Times, Spaces,
Myths” focused on the problematics of the genesis of myths, their temporal
and spatial aspects in the context of the universal categories of “miracles” and
“miraculous”. e conference papers traced the evolution and delineated the
6Vanya Lozanoa-Stancheva
anatomy of these categories as well as their metaphoric metamorphoses in
sacred and profane contexts. e cultural categories of “miracles” and “myths”,
with a specic emphasis on their spatial-temporal parameters, were interpret-
ed in their dynamic interrelations and through their functional characteristics
with reference to other elds such as religion, mythology, literature, politics,
language in dierent historical epochs.
is third conference was organized by the Institute of Balkan Studies
& Centre of racology, BAS, with broad national participation of experts
from a number of renowned research institutions and universities in the
country: the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic
Museum, the Institute of Historical Research, the Institute of Art Research
at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the departments of Classical philology
at the Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology, the Department of eory
and History of Culture at the Faculty of Philosophy, the Faculty of eo-
logy at Soa University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Shumen University “Bishop
Konstantin Preslavsky”, the University of Library Studies and Information
Technologies, and New Bulgarian University. ere were also contributions
by foreign researchers. An online participation in the conferences via Zoom
was provided, which made it possible for a wide range of scholars to attend
and participate in the discussions.
e conference papers of the previous two events Mirabilia: Miracles
and Monsters (2014) and Mirabilia: Miraculous and Magical (2018) were
published in the series Studia Balcanica: Mirabilia: Miracles and Monsters.
, 2016 (Studia Balkanika 31) Mirabilia: Miraculous and Magical.
, 2020 (Studia Balkanika 33).
Part of those papers were published in English in two separate editions
of Études balkaniques LII/1, 2016, 7 – 27 (ISSN 0324 – 1645) and Études
balkaniques LV/1, 2019, 5 – 23, (ISSN 0324 – 1645). e present publication
is a continuation of these good practices.
ÉTUDES BALKANIQUES, LVІІІ, 2022, 1
134
SOFIA AS A SACRED SPACE FOR ESOTERIC SOCIETIES
END OF THE 19th FIRST HALF OF THE 20th CENTURY
Georgeta Nazarska
University of Library Studies and Information Technologies
Bulgaria
Abstract: e article studies the connection between structuring of the Soa urban
space om the end of the 19th to the middle of the 20th century and esoteric com-
munities in the capital (spiritualist, theosophical, anthroposophical, Rosicrucian,
eemasonic, co-eemasonic, including some of the NRM). A “case study” of present
districts of Krasno Selo, Pavloo and Ovcha Kupel is made with historical and cul-
tural studies approach. Both the processes of their emergence, settlement, planning,
and the socio-cultural prole of their inhabitants, some of whom were associated
with occult societies, are explored.
Keywords: esotericism, societies, urban space, Soa, local history
Introduction
e present study aims to nd the connection of the structuring of the
Soa urban space from the end of the 19th to the middle of the 20th century
with the esoteric communities in the capital (of spiritualists, theosophists, an-
throposophists, Rosicrucians, freemasons, co-freemasons, including esoteric
based New religious movements). From the perspective of social history and
cultural studies, a “case study” of several southwestern Soa districts (Krasno
Selo, Pavlovo and Ovcha Kupel) is made, focusing on the processes of their
emergence and planning, on their socio-cultural prole and specically on
settlement of members of occult societies.
1. e urban space of Soa in the sacred geography of the esoteric
communities
Soa’s urban space was constructed during the Roman times around the
sacred mineral spring. ere, to the so called in present days Largo, the temples
were built and the two main streets intersected. Cardo Maximus pointed to
135
the sacralized massifs of Vitosha Mountain and of Lozenets Hill and Decuma-
nus Maximus led to the necropolis. In the Ottoman period, the Hippodamus
(orthogonal) plan of the city was replaced by a radially concentric one, based
on ve streets with the center of the spring near the “Banya Bashi” Mosque
and having a defensive trench as a circular border1.
Aer the Bulgarian Liberation (1878), the new elites kept the existing ur-
ban planning solution. eir understanding of a compact city, growing along
the ve roads and limited by the Vladayska and Perlovska Rivers, prevailed.
e new development plans follow the established patterns of Germany, Rus-
sia, the USA, France and Austria-Hungary in the 18th – 19th centuries, as was
done with the construction of Athens (1834) and Bucharest (1836– 1895). In
neoclassical radial-concentric planning, space follows the “trident principle”:
an isosceles triangle of perpendicularly intersecting streets, orienting the rest
of it, placing squares of regular shape on its vertices, and on the diagonals–
circular streets (rings)2.
e center of the radial-concentric system in Soa remained the “St.
King (St. Nedelya)” Church (550 m MSL)3. Its delimiters were the Vladays-
ka and Perlovska Rivers, and the highest places in the Soa Valley became
structural points, where external squares were formed (as new “city gates”):
the Russian monument (561 m MSL, 1882), the Lions’ Bridge (541 m MSL,
1889), the Eagles’ Bridge (561 m MSL, 1891) and the Monument to Vasil
Levski (548.7 m MSL, 1895). Along the line of Cardo Maximus the new
boulevards “Princess Maria Luisa” and “Vitosha”, for which it was necessary
to demolish forcefully many buildings from the old Ottoman center. Over
time, these points wre woven into the urbanization logic, which looking for
the connection of the city with the mountain and its sacred extensions– the
rivers: the Lions’ Bridge was built over the Vladayska River, the Eagles’ Bridge
was built over the Perlovska River, and the Boyanska River was diverted from
the “Slaveykov” Square to the Artillery Barracks. e role of radial streets in
the rst ring was taken over by the “Moskovska”– “Dondukov”, “Tsar Osvo-
boditel”– “Graf Ignatiev”– “Dragoman” Str., and in the second ring– by the
1 . -, . . , -
– , 2006, .70, 79, 83.
2 Ibid., .22 – 28, 77 – 86, 95 – 96, 129.
3 Ibid., .94, 138, 183.
Soa as a Sacred Space for Esoteric Societies...
136
“Ferdinand”– “Patriarch Euthymius”, “Christo Botev”, “Stefan Stambolov”,
and “Slivnitsa” Str.4.
Initially, Soa’s urban planning was entrusted entirely to “imported” edu-
cated elites. Although it involved Russian, Italian and German specialists (Eng.
Kopitkin, Arch. Amadey, the Bartel brothers)5, until 1905 most cadastral and
regulatory plans were the work of a group of Czechs related to blood, national,
economic, collegial-professional and interest social networks. In their center
was Jiri (Georg) Prošek, and around him gravitate his brother (technician
Bogdan), cousins (engineers Josef and Vaclav), brother-in-law (Arch. Vaclav
Roubal), friend (Arch. Adolf Kolar) and compatriot (eng. Karl Trnka)6.
Although most were road specialists (not urban planners or civil engineers)
and engaged in private industrial and commercial entrepreneurship (they lack
experience in design), they were favored even under dierent political regimes.
It seems that the Czechs were becoming leaders in the urban development not
so much with their professionalism, but because of their common economic
interests and joint freemasonic aliation with the ruling elites7.
Educated in the traditions of German and Austro-Hungarian architec-
ture, Czech technical specialists reected in their work the acquired profes-
sional knowledge and skills, followed and transferred its principles8, but also
weaved in their work their public ideas and personal beliefs, incl. Freemasonic
4 Ibid., .75 – 76.
5 Ibid., .68, 181; . , – 1881
., , 1999, 6, .38 – 39.
6 . , . , , 2014,
1 – 2, .194; -, , .52, 61, 68, 181.
7 Jiri Prošek was a freemason who, upon his arrival in the Bulgarian lands, joined the
Haskovo Lodge around the “Videlina” Community Center (chitaliste) and founded his
own in the village of Yabalkovo (1870). On the eve of the Russo-Turkish War, he entered
into contact with the Slavic committees in Russia through occult networks and placed
himself in the service of Russian troops. His common interests ensured his participation in
highly protable projects of the Bulgarian economic elite aer the Liberation (1878): the
construction of the Tsaribrod– Vakarel railway line and the port of Varna, cooperation with
the Banking and usury house of Evlogii Georgiev, shares in the Balkan Insurance company
and own entrepreneurship (, ; -, , .55, 59). Most
likely Bogdan Prošek and Arch. Kolar were also freemasons.
8 Cf. G. Doytchinov, Ch. Gantchev. Österreichische Architekten in Bulgarien,
1878 – 1918. Wien, 2001; . .,
XIX XX ./ Österreichische architekturein Flüsse in Soa. ,
„“, 1998.
Georgeta Nazarska
137
symbolism. In this they were supported by the political elites, which directly
controlled and directed according to their own visions the planning of the Bul-
garian capital aer 18789. e rst two Bulgarian rulers aer the Liberation
belonged to the high Freemasonic elite, and Tsar Ferdinand I was a member of
the Order of Malta. Apparently, it was not by chance that the Mayor, freema-
son Dimiter Petkov, assigned to the Prošek brothers the regulation plan and
the concessions for the construction of the railway station, the Lion’s and the
Eagles’ Bridge (1888 – 1891)10.
Freemasonry has an immanent desire to transform and lead society to pro-
gress. Well-established practices in this regard are the establishment of public
institutions and private organizations and the “interweaving” of freemasonic
signs and symbols in the urban environment. e latter is usually carried out
by architects, engineers or construction contractors, members of freemasonic
lodges, or by the cultural and political elites themselves. Similarly, freemasons
founded new settlements with specic architecture (Washington, D.C.) or
changed the appearance of cities of ancient origin (the reconstruction of Paris
undertaken by Baron Haussmann)11.
Such an approach could be seen in the urbanization of the Bulgarian cap-
ital. e key points in the urban topography were marked with obelisks and
bridges. e Russian monument (1882) and the Monument to Vasil Levski
(1895) had a truncated conical shape, oriented resp. to the northeast and
southwest and decorated with clearly legible freemasonic symbols and inscrip-
tions12. e Lions’ Bridge (1889) in the north-south direction was decorated
9 . , , .1. , , 1995, .33.
Prince Alexander I signed one of the plans and personally supervised its implementation in
November 1879. Tsar Ferdinand I participated in the making of the coat of arms of the cap-
ital city and initiated most of the public works.
10 , , .203 – 213; -, , .76.
11 J. S. Curl, Freemasonry & the Enlightenment: Architecture, Symbols, & Inu-
ences. London, Historical Publications, 2011; J. S. Curl, Freemasonry and Architecture,
In: B. Bogdan, J. A. M. Snoek, Handbook of Freemasonry, (= Brill Handbooks on Con-
temporary Religion), Vol. 8, Leiden, Boston, Brill, 2014, pp. 557 – 605, https://doi.
org/10.1163/9789004273122_031; J. Wasserman, e Secrets of Masonic Washington: A
Guidebook to Signs, Symbols, and Ceremonies at the Origin of America’s Capital Traditions.
Washington D. C., Destiny Books, 2008; J. Manca, George Washington’s Eye: Landscape, Ar-
chitecture, and Design at Mount Vernon. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012;
Fr. Frescura, Symbolic Dimensions of 19th Century Dutch Colonial Settlement at the Cape
of Good Hope, Journal for the Study of Religion, 2017, vol. 30, 2, pp. 297 – 329, https://
dx.doi.org/10.17159/2413 – 3027/2017/v30n2a13.
12 e Russian monument faces east– sign of birth, and the Monument to Levski fa-
ces west, i.e. the death. e rst one is decorated with the freemasonic symbol of an open
Soa as a Sacred Space for Esoteric Societies...
138
with 4 lions– solar symbols, which in the Ancient Egypt accompanied the
goddess Bastet and were placed in front of temples and palaces. e Eagles’
Bridge (1891), oriented northwest-southeast, was also “marked” by 4 solar
animals– eagles are associated with Zeus and highly revered by freemasons.
ey marked the beginning of another “sacred road”, to Constantinople, on
which the pilgrims set out for Jerusalem and Mecca.
ese structuring spatial centers communicated with each other through
main road arteries in the west-east direction13: the “Knyaginya Marie Louisa”
Bld., the “Moskovska” Str., and the “Tsar Osvoboditel” Bld. e “Rakovski”
Str. was turned into a “bridge” between the two rivers, crossing the whole city.
e capital’s elites, part of which aliated to occult societies, built their homes
right on the mentioned streets, and signicant public buildings (incl. used by
esotericists) were situated there14. In 1907 – 1908 the main downtown streets
were covered with yellow pavers– a symbolic lining with “gold”, realizing a
freemasonic idea and carried out with the assistance of freemasons: Mayor
Martin Teodorov and shareholders of the “Izida” [Isis] industrial ceramic
society15 (Fig.1).
In the planning or reconstruction of cities, freemasons “encoded” their
ideas at crossroads and squares. e most commonly used were the round
(oval) and radiant (rhizomatic) shapes, suggesting equality and reconciliation
of dierences. Eight, six, ve or three-way intersections constructed space in
a new way16. Similar to Rome, St. Petersburg and Athens in the late 19th and
compass formed by binoculars, a rie with a bayonet and a shovel, and with the biblical
quote (Psalms 113: 9)– the motto of the Templar Order. e second one is depicted by 16
snakes (chthonic symbol of rebirth and transformation) and 8 bukranions (heads of bulls are
solar symbol of sacred animals associated with sacrice).
13 e direction follows the course of the important for the freemasons star Sirius.
14 e Masonic Temple (at 100), the eosophical Club, the hall of the Universal
White Brotherhood, the “Slavyanska Beseda” community center (Chitalishte), the Union
Club, the Free University, the Bulgarian Society of Engineers and Architects, the House of
the Press were located on “Rakovsky” Str.
15 Isis is one of the most revered deities of the Masons. See . ,
, , 1960, 9.
16 e octagonal ones express the veneration of the 8th as a solar symbol of St. Spirit,
the transition from heaven to earth, rebirth and renewal. Freemasons call the 8th star of
awakening and liken it to the Dawn (Venus), and hence to Isis. e hectagonal ones pay
homage to the 6th as a sum of two 3s. e pentagrams are an allusion to the 5th– a sign of
Sirius, God’s harmony and purication. ey are common in St. Petersburg (Pyat uglo),
Washington D.C. and New York. e three-rayed ones are connected with St. Trinity,
perfection and absolute harmony.
Georgeta Nazarska
139
early 20th centuries in Soa appeared such kind squares: at rst they were round
and oval (“St. King (St. Nedelya)”, “Monument to Levski”, “National Assem-
bly”), and more late star-shaped squares (incl. on crossroads)17. Pentagrams
were these at: the Eagles’ Bridge Sqr., the Monument to Patr. Evtimiy Sqr., the
so called Small and Big Five Corners, today’s “Prošek brothers” Sqr., and the
six-beam was the “Journalist” Sqr. ree-beam intersections were common in
the city center and the periphery (the “Lozenets” district). Small triangular
segments were constructed near them (e.g. between the “Macedonia” Sqr., the
Five Corners and the Russian Monument an isosceles triangle with sides 450
x 550 x 550 m is formed).
Around these key urban planning points at the end of the 19th and
the beginning of the 20th century the so-called almshouses quarters, where
institutions (incl. occult formations) expressed their charity. Initially, it was
built around the Lions’ Bridge and the railway station (in present “Banishora”
17 -, , .168 – 169.
Fig. 1. Aerial photo of the Soa center om the “St. Alexander Nevsky”
Sqr., 16.08.1929 (Personal archive)
Soa as a Sacred Space for Esoteric Societies...
140
district), and from the beginning of the 20th century an almshouses quarter
was situated in the area of the Russian Monument.
In addition to elements of urbanism, occult societies marked signicant
private and public buildings with construction and architectural details
(three-part division of the shape of the buildings, arched or gabled entrances
underlined by the two columns of Jachin and Boaz, sculptures or reliefs of Isis,
Atlantes and eagles, acacia garlands, rosettes, triangular elements, etc.).
A common way to “mark” was to plant esoteric-related vegetation in the
gardens and along the city’s arteries. us, the plane trees are associated with
Zeus and are considered a symbol of wisdom, change and life; the acacias–
as an attribute of Isis and Chorus, a sign of wisdom and enlightenment of
the world; the chestnuts– a symbol of chastity and victory over temptation;
the lindens are associated with grace and wisdom; the white pines– with
the immortality of the human soul; the redwoods are considered a symbol
of the world tree and immortality. Some of the tree species are grown in
special city plant nurseries (the Pépinière and in the Ovcha Kupel district).
In the 1910s – 1940s, key places in the city were purposefully decorated:
plane trees adorned the “Garibaldi” Sqr. and the “Slaveykov” Sqr. (also
called Plane Tree Sqr.), acacias are planted along the “Patr. Euthymius” Bld.,
lindens– on the “Christo Botev” Bld., chestnuts and plane trees– along the
“Tsar Osvoboditel” and the “Prague” Bld., poplars– of the “Vasil Levski”
Bld., and others18.
2. e southwestern Soa districts of Ovcha Kupel, Krasno Selo
and Pavloo19 as a sacred space for the occult societies in the capital:
a case study
In the past, the Boyanska (Stara, Kriva) River was considered the most
important of the three Soa Rivers. It springs from the foot of Cherni Vrah
peak, passes through important mountain massifs (Malak Rezen Peak,
18 Cf. , . , , . ,
V – . , , 2010.
19 Until the middle of the 20th century, their names were not dierentiated. e Ovcha
Kupel district included only present-day the Ovcha Kupel– 1 district; the Krasno Selo
district denoted the eponymous district together with the present-day the Buxton and the
Borovo districts, and the Pavlovo district also covered the part of the Knyazhevo district
closer to the town (from the “Gornobanski Road” Bld. to the “Rayska gradina” [Paradise
Garden] tram stop).
Georgeta Nazarska
141
Chernata Skala locality, Kamen del, Momina Skala), ows into the Boyana
Waterfall, ows through the lands of today’s southern Soa districts and has
reached the city center. Although the Boyanska River was the smallest one, it
was sacralized because of the gold deposits and location next to the “sacred
road” to Knyazhevo. In the 16th century, near it, the Orthodox Bulgarians sent
the relics of St. Ivan of Rila to his Monastery. e mineral springs (St. Spas,
Sveta voda and Udov kladenets) in the Boyana district, connected with the
Boyanska River, were adored as holy places up to the 20th century20.
e Boyana and Vladayska Rivers surrounded a territory with rich
groundwater, which gave names to separate places: the Byalata Voda (White
Water), the Izlivo (usion), and the Ruchey Sqr. (Brook). In 1858 this area
is the place where a warm geyser erupted aer the Soa earthquake21. e
meadows in the eld along the Knyazhevo Highroad were called the Žežkata
Voda [Hot Water] (later the Ovcha Kupel [Sheep Bath]) and began to be used
for grazing animals, driving mills, for the needs of the Brewery and the new
mineral bath22. In 1909 the State Plant Nursery was located on the territory
of the Ovcha Kupel district, and in the 1920s a neighborhood for war refugees
(called Tsaribrodski/Dobrudzhanski) was established23.
At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, the inhab-
itants of the Ovcha Kupel district were few. Among them stood out famous
gures with occult interests. Spiritualism occupied the free time of Yordanka
Filaretova– a famous public gure in Soa, owner of a mill, and of Mihalaki
Georgiev– a diplomat and writer, who founded an agricultural farm in the
district (1906 – 1909). Freemasons among the inhabitants were the following
gures: Ivan E. Geshov– a politician and entrepreneur and owner of mead-
ows; Colonel Trayko Hadjikotsev– a nephew of the rst mayor of Soa and
owner of a land estate; Kiril Christov– famous writer, settled next to the
Ovch Kupel State Baths from the beginning of the 20th century; Athanas and
Stephan Damyanov– newspapers entrepreneurs and owners of plots in the
20 -, , .18; – , . 1, . 3, .. 1514, . 1 – 25.
Even today the spring in the Byalata Voda locality in Boyana is a holy spring and an object
of worship. Its water passes through a silver vein and has a cleansing eect. Since the legends
connect the spring with St. Panteleimon, it is hypothesized that it is located on the site of the
sanctuary of Apollo the Healer.
21 . , . , , 1996, .190.
22 . , , , 1942, 5,
.7; -, . 1K, . 2, .. 1923, . 10 – 11,
23 . , . , , 2001, .6 – 22.
Soa as a Sacred Space for Esoteric Societies...
142
neighborhood24. e mentioned persons used their closeness to the Vitosha
Mountain to meditate at its foot or to climb it, seeking merging with the God
on its tops25.
e lands along the Knyazhevo Highroad, located opposite the Ovcha
Kupel district, remained uninhabited until the end of the 19th century. En-
trepreneurs from Serbia and Austria-Hungary were the rst ones who dare
to “colonize” them. Appreciating the advantageous location, water supplies
and transport arteries, they founded the Brewery (1882 – 1885) and the Paper
and Cardboard factory (1892)26. Soon aer, some Protestants from the Soa
Congregational Church bought land properties: Dimitr N. Gerov from
the town of Panagyurishte created a 12-decare farm (1897); in 1901 – 1906
there were settled the families of Dimitar Hadjiivanov– a senior ocial, a
graduate of the Robert College; of Stoyan Vatralsky– a Harvard graduate,
writer and preacher, who had been living in a ranch of 57 acres; and of Mikhail
Monedzhikov– a former Haskovo judge27.
By the end of the 1930s, the neighborhood became equally attractive
as a residential area, a resort village and an industrial area. It housed both
relatively poor settlers (workers, petty ocials, and Armenian, Russian and
Bulgarian refugees) and representatives of social elites: since 1908 – 1910
inuential politicians, manufacturers and cultural gures– as General Todor
Kantardzhiev, the photographer Dimiter Karastoyanov and the Mayor Rady
V. Radev– built their villas28.
24 CSA, coll. 1449, inv. 1, rch.un. 170, f. 213; -, . 272, . 9, .. 4432,
. 5 – 10, 42; , .
25 . , „ “ : -
., , 2020, 9,
.75 – 92; . , . , . , . . , .
. , , 1964, .99, 122, 139.
26 . , . , . . . -
40- XX . , ,
2017.
27 , 1938, 2; . , -
. (1911 – 1935) . ,
, 1998; . , . , 1960, :
, .2, 28; .-. -, . , 1960, :
, .7; , . 129, . 1, .. 372, . 2; . 242, . 9, .. 11546, . 1 – 92.
28 . , . . , ,
2010, .13, 147; . , , : , . -
. . 3, , 2010, – , .215 – 216.
Georgeta Nazarska
143
Many industrial enterprises also appeared: (in the Ovcha Kupel district)
the “Bulgaria” Spinning factory, the “Victoria” Weaving factory, the “Lyulin”
Textile factory; (in the Krasno Selo district) the Rope factory of Tsonyo
Payakov and Ivan Vazharov (1905), e “Titania” Metal factory by Ivan Ta-
bakov (1925), Knitwear factory of Nikola St. Ratchev (1936); (in the Pavlovo
district) the Vinegar factory of Assen and Kocho Chervenivanov (1919), the
Sapper factory of Boris Malchev and Atanasov, the “Ka-bo” Sock factory of
Anguel Boyadzhiev (1928), the Silk factory of A. Khaimov (1932); “Elbeka”
factory by Eng. Girginov (1934) and others29.
e number of settlers grew gradually, with a visible jump in the 1920s
and mid – 1930s: 538 people (1910), 1.710 (1920), 11.230 (1934), 18.000
(1936)30. During the interwar period, representatives of the economic, politi-
cal and educated elites settled permanently in the neighborhood: industrialists
(Assen Chervenivanov, Velizar Peev, Stefan Todorov, Angel Boyadzhiev, etc.),
entrepreneurs (Yakim Tsvetanov etc.), nanciers (Stoyan Bochev, Christo
Oustabashie, etc.), merchants (Nikola Shavkulov, Mikhail Kremen, etc.),
senior military ocers (Generals Todor Kantardjhiev, Nikola Jekov, Radoslav
Kalenderov, Dimitar Mustakov and Ivan Marinov; Colonel Krum Lekarsky,
etc.), university professors (Konstantin Katsarov, Ivan Duychev, Vladimir
K. Hristov, Peter Dinekov, Georgi Nenkov), lawyers (Yosif Fadenhecht,
Iliya Yanulov, Veliko Grablashev, etc.), medics (Stoyan Kirkovitch, Iliya and
Lyubomir Hadjiivanov, Alexander Klein, Ivan Kesyakov, Mikhail Temkov,
etc.), journalists (Rady V. Radev, Vasil Sprostranov, Konstantin Kupenkov,
Todor Yankov, Kliment Simeonov, Ivan Dragoshinov, Panayot Chinkov, etc.),
architects (Georgi Ovcharov, Lyuben Chardafonov, Evgenii Ivanov), engi-
neers (Todor Gubidelnikov, Ivan Tabakov, Stefan Chr. Tsanev and others),
photographers (Dimitar and Rayna Karastoyanov), singers (Elena Doskova–
Ricardi), writers (Kiril Christov, Lyudmil Stoyanov, Boyan Bolgar), clergy-
men (archimandrite Callistratus), diplomats and politicians (Yanko Sakazov,
Yanko Stoentchev, Nikola Sakarov, Todor Christov, Petr Gabrovsky, Kevork
Mesrob, etc.), publishers, sculptors, artists, teachers and many more. etc.31.
29 , , , .
30 . , , 1878 – 1944. . , -
, 1982, .23; , 1107, . 141.
31 e data are included in a database prepared on the basis of: , 1938, -
, 1940; , 1945, 1949; . , „ “, ,
20.03.2018, : , http://stara-soa.blogspot.com/2018/03/blog-post_37.html,
Soa as a Sacred Space for Esoteric Societies...
144
is kind of social gentrication32 of the neighborhoods in question is
also the work of people who are seriously connected with occult communities.
Among the local property owners the freemasons and their related organiza-
tions predominate: Stoyan Vatralsky, Rady V. Radev, Mikhalaki Georgiev,
Stoyan Kirkovitch, Todor Yankov, Veliko Grablashev, Stephan Todorov,
Alexander Protogerov, Stoyan Botchev, Krum Lekarsky, Konstantin Kat-
zarov, Todor Christov, Francesco Ricardi, Peter Gabrovsy, Yanko Stoenchev,
Dimiter Atanassov, Vladimir N. Boyadzhiev, Alexander Klein, Velizar
Peev, Mikhail Kremen, and the co-freemason archimandrite Callistratus33.
e Rotary Club members were Peter Gabrovsky, Stoyan Bochev, Velizar
Peev, Alexander Klein, Vladimir K. Hristov and Yosif Fadenhecht34. e
Rosicrucian was Francesco Ricardi. Spiriticism was practiced by Mikhalaki
Georgiev, Veliko Grablashev, and Krum Vazharov. eosophy was in the eld
of interests of Stoyan Vatralsky, Mikhalaki Georgiev, Alexander Protogerov,
Nikola Sakarov, Gencho Handzhiev, archimandrite Callistratus, and Mikhail
Kremen35. Mesmerism excited the photographer Dimiter Karastoyanov, but
hypnotism– the writer Kiril Christov. e Universal White Brotherhood
attended Krum Vazharov, Georgi Kyosev, the stonemason Aleri Bertoli and
other neighborhood inhabitants. e followers of Leo Tolstoy ideas were
the Duychev brothers. Leaders of the New religious movements, such as the
January 27th 2022 – acc. 28.03.2022.; . , . .
, . ., : Boris Temko Institut. Archive, https://app.box.com/s/9pammla7ixy91h-
pe3qxc7m4h4iglo5x5 – acc. 28.03.2022, .65, 69; -, ; -
, ; , ; , ; , 1449, .1, ..
165, . 37; .. 164, .78, 89; .. 171, . 118, and many other documents.
32 e original term is from urbanism and refers to a change in the social composition
of a neighborhood so as to replace its marginal status with a more prestigious one (e.g. in
the Marais district of Paris and Notting Hill in London, rich bourgeois settle in place of
bohemians). In this case, the term is used with a great deal of conventionality, because the
new settlers are not as rich as those belonging to the intellectual elite.
33 . , . , , 1986, .17 19,
178; . , . , , 1994,
.143; , 5, . 5, .. 1394, . 1, 32 – 33.; , . 401, . 1, ..
7, . 1 – 7.
34 . , , 1933 – 1941. , , 2011; -
, , .91.
35 , ., .. 6, .1, . 4 – 6, 32.; .2, .27; , . 1909,
., 2, .. 234, . 5; -, . 3, . 1, .. 499, . 2.
Georgeta Nazarska
145
“Good Samaritan” and the Orthodox Holy Society, were Christo Ousta-
bashie and Stephan Kukurinov36.
e modeling of the neighborhood space and the creation of certain in-
stitutions in it represented the realization of the ideas spread by these occult
formations. eir visions for nding a balance between people and nature,
social and political pacication of humanity, and harmonization of soci-
ety were connecting to freemasonry, theosophy, Rosicrucianism and Tolstoy
ideas. is is probably the case with the choice of the name of the Krasno
Selo [Beautiful village] district. Assuming that the creation of the settlement
is not a coincidence, but a deliberate action of a group of occultists who want
to model their ideal settlement on a “clear terrain” (“tabula rasa”), in which
the combination of cultures and ignoring ethnic and religious dierences, its
naming in 1903 probably made Stoyan Vatralsky– an American graduate,
high freemason and theosophist. e ocial version that it was inspired by
Tsarskoye Selo near St. Petersburg37 can be taken as an allusion to its etymol-
ogy in 19th century from “Sophia– Holy Wisdom (of God)”– the essence of
theosophical philosophy. It is more possible, however, that Vatralsky, who had
oen suggested streets names in honor of deserving gures from England and
the United States and who always wrote “Krasnoselo” merged38, has traced a
foreign name, e.g. Belleville. e eponymous neighborhood of American city
St. Louis, where he had been living as a student, was located on a hill, outside
the metropolis, had rich landscaping and was inhabited by immigrants.
e colorful ethnic and religious composition was one of the characteris-
tics of the Krasno Selo, the Pavlovo and the Ovcha Kupel districts. Until the
First World War, Protestants (insignicant share of the capital’s population)
and foreigners stayed there purposefully: Serbs from the Brewery, Czechs who
were workers in the Paper and Cardboard factory, crasmen, park builders,
and entrepreneurs; Belgians, supporting the tram line; Italian stonemasons39.
Since the beginning of the 20th century and especially aer the Genocide in
the Ottoman Empire, many Armenians had found shelter there40. In 1921,
36 – , 1905, 4; . , . (.), -
155 , . , -, 2001, .13 – 16; . , -
, , 2007, 5 – 6, .170 – 176.
37 , 1107, .160.
38 , . 129, . 1, .. 372, . 2.
39 -, . 1216, . 2, .. 19; .. 23; -, .
40 . , ,
, 1942, 5, .31; . ,
Soa as a Sacred Space for Esoteric Societies...
146
the Russian-Bulgarian Cultural and Charitable Committee housed in the
Pavlovo and part of the Knyazhevo districts a large group of white Russian
emigre– crasmen, small traders, workers and ocials41. At the same decades
the Catholic Church bought a property near the Gornobanski Road with
the intention of building its own monastery. In the 1930s, members of the
Jewish Zionist Cooperative built homes along the Boyana Road. Villas and
houses were built along the Knyazhevo Highroad and the Gornobanski Road
by Sephardim workers, ocials, merchants, and medical doctors. In 1943,
Jewish textile workers, tinsmiths, tailors, and shepherds settled around the
27th Junior High School (now 36 High School). In the 1940s, the German
military sta received temporary housing in the area42.
Along with the conict-free coexistence of dierent ethnic groups,
remarkable inter-confessional practices bordering on ecumenism have been
registered in the two neighborhoods: the “St. St. Cyril and Methodius”
church at the Krasno selo district was built on land donated by the Armenian
Tantradjian family43; patrons of the “St. Catherine” Orthodox chapel (1929)
became the Czech Catholics Wilhelmina Sommer-Krayselska and Catherine
Hacker44; Catholic Eucharistic nuns had working in the Protestant tubercu-
losis sanatorium of Dr. Lyubomir Hadjiivanov; the Armenian Junior High
School and the Mesrobyan High School (1929 – 1937) in the Pavlovo district
had a board of trustees included Bulgarian, German and American Protes-
tants45. In addition to the two Bulgarian churches in the region, an Armenian
chapel in the Pavlovo and the “St. Nikolas” Russian Orthodox chapel at the
Knyazhevo district were built.
is picture was dierent from the capital city, where there was a clear
socio-economic zoning of the central (for rich people) and peripheral areas
(for poor strata)46. On the contrary, in the south-western districts there was
homogeneity of the settlers: barbers and ocials, drivers and medical doctors,
, : . , . (.), , . 6, -
, „ – “, 2019, .368 – 382.
41 -, . 1, .2, .. 1923, . 3 – 4; . , -
, , 2000, 2, .44 – 54.
42 , . 190, . 1, .. 8623, . 199, 204 – 208.
43 , ; , 1107, . 161.
44 , .., : https://sv-ilia.alle.bg – acc. 28.03.2022.
45 -, . 807; , .
46 -, , .106.
Georgeta Nazarska
147
weavers and ocers, carpet weavers and architects, carpenters and pharma-
cists, tram-driver and cowboys, etc. were living next door47. Over the years,
they had built a perfect territorial-neighborhood network of coexistence, mu-
tual assistance and solidarity. e essence of their relationship was visible both
in the presence of socially unequal (hypergamous) marriages and in times of a
social crisis, when in 1945 some residents of the Pavlovo district appeared in
defense of their neighbors, journalists Kupenkov and Dragoshinov before the
so called People’s [Communist] Court48.
e ideas for transforming nature into culture, for shaping space accord-
ing to utopian ctions and for founding the “ideal city” can be “read” in the
planning of the studied neighborhoods, which were mapped with the Adolf
Mussmann Plan and the Ordinance-Law for the Soa Large Municipality
(1937 – 1938)49. e original map shows advanced urbanization of southwest
neighborhoods: planning, named squares and streets, a tram line to Boyana,
a regulated Boyanska riverbed, a paved road, a radio transmitter and a tram
depot50 (Fig. 2).
In his plan, the Rotarian Arch. Mussmann followed the ideas of eodor
Fritsch about the satellite cities (1896 – 1897) and of English Arch. Ebenezer
Howard on garden cities (1902)51. is concept was provoked by the vision
of the “ideal city of the future”, where poverty, overpopulation, pollution and
diseases will be overcome at the expense of decentralization, networking,
cooperation, self-government, connection with nature, and social equality52.
e rst experiments were made in England, Germany, Russia, Serbia, and the
United States in the 1910 – 1920s.53.
47 , .
48 , . 1449, . 1, .. 164, . 71 – 74, 86, 109, 114.
49 -, , .98, 109, 131; , 1107, . 141.
50 -, . 1, . 2, .. 1915, . 1 – 4; , . 234, . 4, .. 640; . -
, (1929 – 1934)], -
, 1978, 3, .55 – 65, https://www.electronic-library.org/articles/Article_0256.
html.51 -, , .99, 131.
52 Ibid., .121 – 122, 130.
53 Dr. Gataric et al., e Origin and Development of Garden Cities– An Overview,
In: Zbornik radoa – Geografski fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu, 2019, pp. 33 – 43; Sh.
Geng et al., Inuences of Russian Culture on Harbin’s Urban Planning from 1898 to 1931
and Conservation Recommendations, Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism, 2021,
vol. 3, 1, . 1030, http://dx.doi.org/10.36922/jcau.v3i1.1030.
Soa as a Sacred Space for Esoteric Societies...
148
In our country, a similar idea was developed by the Russian engineer
Kopitkin (1880), who wanted to build a new capital between the existing
city and the Knyazhevo district, with avenues, orthogonal structure and
a park54. Later, adepts became Arch. Georgi Nenov in his “Public Works
Manual” (1924) and Arch. Trendal Trendalov in the book “e Modern
City” (1927)55. It is possible that the concept of satellite cities was applied in
the Krasno Selo and the Pavlovo districts, although the two architects were
not their inhabitants. Probably it was carried out either by the settlers in the
neighborhood Yanko Stoenchev (Minister of the public buildings, roads and
communications, 1925 – 1927), by Arch. Evgeny Ivanov (urban studies ex-
pert), or by Arch. Todor Goranov (Head of the Architectural and Structural
Directorate at the Soa Municipality, 1934 – 1944).
54 , , .86.
55 -, , .122, 129 – 130, 140.
Fig. 2. e districts of Ovcha Kupel, Krasno Selo and Pavloo
(incl. “Vazrazhdane / Wheel” Sqr.) in the General Urban Plan of the Soa City
Court, 1938, agment (Regional History Museum– Soa)
Georgeta Nazarska
149
e philosophy and symbolism of freemasonry, Rosicrucianism and
theosophy were closely intertwined in the planning of the neighborhood.
As in the city center, the streets were located radially concentrically, oriented
mainly to the mountain and Kopitoto Peak, limited by the two major arteries
and rivers, and closely followed the “trident principle”. Numerous three and
ve-sided intersection squares were planned. e “Vazrazhdane” [Revival]
Sqr. (known as the Wheel, today “Flag of Peace”), located on the highest
part of the Pavlovo district, had a shape of an enneagram56. Representatives
of almost all ethnic groups were living along the streets starting from this
“sun square”. At the crossroads was the house of freemason Yanko Stoenchev,
and nearby– the members of occult societies Stoyan Kirkovich, Konstantin
Katzarov, Ivan Dujchev, Konstantin Kupenkov, Ivan Dragoshinov et al. Each
of 9 rays was marked by tree species with symbolic meaning: sequoia, white
pine, and acacia.
is is the practice in the rest of the surveyed neighborhoods. Stoyan
Vatralsky planted plane trees, redwoods, pines and lindens in his farm in the
Krasno Selo district, with which he “marked” the Boyana Road and the Boy-
anska River. In imitation of the American transcendentalists H. D. Toro and
Emerson, to merge art and nature, he created an occult place for meditation
in silence– a type of ashram, visited by his close associates, freemasons and
theosophists57. Evstraty Geshov insisted before the State Plant Nursery in the
Ovcha Kupel district a special supply of birches, American oaks and pines for
the yard of his boarding house58.
Two redwoods were planted in front of the House of Humanity, and
plane trees– next to the Rope Factory. Chestnuts, lindens and poplars sur-
round the riverbed of the Boyanska River, pointing to the “sacred road” to the
mountain; the “Doyran” (“Stephan Toshev”) Str. was decorated with linden
trees. Members of occult formations “marked” their private houses with ce-
dars, cypresses (symbol of immortality and paradise), redwoods, white and
black pines, summer oaks, acacias, and plane trees59.
56 e 9th marks perfection for esotericists and is a symbol of Baha’i. Such intersections
exist in Rome, Versailles and St. Petersburg. In Karlsruhe there is a 32-beam square (1715),
in Washington, D.C.– 36 star-shape squares (mostly 7-beam), and the “Etoile” Sqr. in Paris
is a 12-beam intersection (-, , .168 – 169).
57 D. S. Jordan, e Days of a Man. Being Memories of a Naturalist, Teacher, and Minor
Prophet of Democracy, New York, World Book, 1924, p. 53.
58 -, . 1427, . 1, .. 5.
59 , , .13, 15 – 16, 26, 97, 106, 117.
Soa as a Sacred Space for Esoteric Societies...
150
In the 1920s and 1930s, various institutions were founded in this city area,
initiated, nanced and managed by members of esoteric societies. According
to freemasonry and theosophy, their establishment was an external expression
of the goals of these formations and was a way to work for the benet of so-
ciety. e surveyed neighborhoods were dominated by institutions targeting
the most vulnerable groups.
In the 1920s, the Ovcha Kupel district housed the House of Humanity,
conceived by the Society for Combating Juvenile Delinquency and the Protec-
tion of Prisoners in order to prevent “immoral” children through re-education,
education and manual labor. Phraseology explaining the need to treat such a
“social disease” is typical of occult societies. As expected, freemasons (writer
Stiliyan Chilingirov, physician Dr. Stephan Vatev, etc.), Rotarians (Catherine
Karavelo– high school teacher and prominent public gure), theosophists
(Dimtrana Ivanova – chairlady of the Bulgarian Women’s Union) and a
large number of followers of the Universal White Brotherhood were found
Fig. 3. Project of Arch. N. Dagoro for the House of Humanity, 1924
(State Archive– Soa, coll. 1K, in. 2, a.u. 949, f.6)
Georgeta Nazarska
151
in the management and composition of the society. e chairman Gencho
Handjiev– a judge, chairman of the Soa District Court, who started from
spiritualism and the eosophical Society, in the 1920s– 1930s attended
the Universal White Brotherhood. In 1926 the Home was opened at the
Knyazhevo Highroad. Its building was part of a complex that was planned to
have all the external symbols of Freemasonry: collecting donations through
tickets “bricks” (1921), laying the foundation stone (1922), 4-beam architec-
tural layout and planting of redwoods in front of the entrance60 (Fig. 3).
In 1935 in the Krasno Selo district the “Anka Gubidelnikova– Geshova”
Boarding school for girls opened its doors. It was built by Evstraty Geshov– a
nancier and freemason, in memory of his wife. e idea was to accommo-
date 24 poor female students from the countryside, studying in Soa high
schools, the Soa University and the State Art Academy. ey had to be
educated in religion, literature, science, hygiene, household, and others. e
Board of trustees consisted mainly of freemasons (founder, banker Georgi
Gubidelnikov, and painter Ivan Penkov), their wives (Eudoxia Filova), theos-
ophists (Zivka Dragnewa), and the nancing was provided to large economic
structures with a clear freemasonic prole (“Balkan” and “Bulgaria” insurance
companies, the Bulgarian Commercial Bank, “Granatoid” and “St. George”
industrial companies)61.
ese impressions are reinforced by other details. e house was situated
in a triangular plot of land at the crossroad of the Knyazhevo Highroad and
the Boyana Road, next to the Boyanska River. Its construction was marked by
a freemasonic ritual for laying a foundation stone, and its solemn consecration
was attended by a large group of freemasons (bankers Dimiter Savov, Athanase
Burov and Marko Ryaskov, industrialists Nikola Chilov, Ivan T. Balabanov,
university Prof. Bogdan Filov, and others). e building had the shape of a
compass facing the Vitosha Mountain. It impressed with its own chapel with
extravagant furniture and decorations. Its construction and separation from
the parish through a special status is puzzling, as there were three more Or-
thodox churches in the vicinity. e chapel was decorated uncanonically with
a glass iconostasis and round columns. It was consecrated by the freemason
Stefan– metropolitan of Soa, and was served mainly by Russian priests,
60 -, . 1368, . 1, .. 4, . 1 – 3; .. 5, . 1 – 6; .. 8, . 1; , . 65,
. 1, .. 74, . 120 – 121.
61 , . 568, . 2, .. 458, 461, 467.
Soa as a Sacred Space for Esoteric Societies...
152
adherents of ecumenism. ese facts suggest that the chapel may have been
used alternatively: as a place of interfaith services or as a freemasonic temple62
(Fig. 4).
Fig. 4. Pensioners and trustees in ont of the building of the “Anka Geshoa”
Boarding school for girls, with visibility of the chapel, 1936 (Personal archive)
In the same year, 1935, Stoyan Vatralsky– a neighbor of Evstraty Geshov’s
estate in the Krasno Selo district, bequeathed funds for the establishment of a
Retirementhomefor elderly people and intellectual workers of the Protestant
denomination (pastors and biblical workers). e home should be run by a
foundation with members of the Soa Congregational Church, led by Stoyan
Bochev– a nancier and freemason. e retirement home was planned to be
located in an occult complex for recreation and contemplation, including a
large park, a hall for lectures on pacist and abstinence topics, a library and a
62 -, . 360, . 1, .. 50, . 1 – 7, 29, 50; . . , -
, , 2006, 1 (34),
. 134 – 151, https://ruskline.ru/monitoring_smi/2006/11/29/protopresviter_georgij_
shavel_skij_i_karlovackij_sinod – acc. 28.03.2022.
Georgeta Nazarska
153
museum of Vatralsky63. e change of political regime aer 1944 did not make
it possible to fulll the last will of the famous theosophist and freemason, but
it was indicative of his vision of what the neighborhood where he spent 25
years of his life should look like.
Vatralsky was among the initiators for the establishment of another im-
portant institution– the “Krasno selo” Community Center (Chitalishte). For
this purpose, in 1919 an Initiative Committee was elected, dominated by lo-
cal prominent gures, mostly related to occult formations (Stoyan Vatralsky,
physician Dr. Lubomir Hadjiivanov, journalist Alexander Dyakovich, Judge
Veliko Grablashev, General Dimitar Mustakov, and others)64. Under their
leadership, fundraising and lobbying began. e original idea was to build a
complex at the crossroads of Knyazhevo Highroad and the Ovcha Kupel Blvd.,
between the Brewery and the State Plant Nursery, including a community
center, school and “Jesus Christ” church. e development plan envisaged a
park with a fountain and an articial rock (a typical occult sign)65. e idea
was realized in part by building only a community center, generously endowed
by fellows freemasons, among who were the principals of the “Ka-bo” factory
and the “Cyclopes”, “Granatoid” and “Titania” joint-stock companies66.
Conclusion
From the end of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century, Soa
public space was rapidly urbanized according to the modern principles of
urban planning. is process was signicantly aected by the existing occult
societies operating in the city and their individual members, usually “import-
ed elites”, whose professional or public activities were related to the planning
and development of Soa. e study of the horizontal organization of the city
shows the inclusion in its deep structures of some ideas and symbols of the
esotericism.
An example of this were the new districts of Soa in the south-western
direction, which emerged at the beginning of the 20th century (Krasno Selo,
63 , . 165, . 6, .. 85, . 3 – 4; . ,
. , , 11438, 10.10.1935.
64 . , . , 19, 2004, .155.
65 , 1107, . 10, 24, 51, 156.
66 , 1940, 4, .8; 5, .8.
Soa as a Sacred Space for Esoteric Societies...
154
Pavlovo and Ovcha Kupel). In their founding and urbanization participated
many personalities associated with occult formations, who transfer from the
city center to its periphery the understanding of the sacredness of space and
“wrote” their symbols and signs in an absolutely “virgin” territory. Above
all, a zone was formed that broke with the principles of social hierarchy, po-
larization and opposition and relied on social harmonization, combination of
opposites and the building of a homogeneous territorial-neighborhood com-
munity. It was based on numerous social networks (blood related, friendship,
educational, professional and of interests), creating a mixture of ethnic groups,
religious denominations, local people and foreigners, marginals and elites.
It can be assumed that some of the creators of this way of life were con-
sciously looking for it either because of their freemasonic visions of the world,
prescribing to build an ‘ideal city’ in the form of a “garden city”, either due to
religious reasons: as an ecumenical project that could “smooth out” denomi-
national contradictions. It is possible to think about it even as a Bahá’í experi-
ment, arming (following the example of Auguste Forel and Leo Tolstoy) the
unication of the world and cultural syncretism, the achievement of justice
and equality, the guarantee of eternal peace, the raising of morality through
religion and knowledge.
During the interwar period in the new southwestern districts of the
capital was formed another almshouses quarter in the city, following the ideas
of occult formations. If the rst two were organized at the end of the 19th
century– the beginning of the 20th century around the northern and western
“gates” of the capital (the Lions’ Bridge and the Russian Monument), in the
third one there was a “transfer” of sacredness along the Knyazhevo Highroad
and the Boyana River lines to the Vitosha Mountain and to the considered
sacred area of Knyazhevo and Boyana. Aer 1920, a number of public institu-
tions were founded there– an outward manifestation of the occult ideas of
serving humanity, aimed at supporting poor youth and adults, children with
deviant behavior, military veterans and refugees, and to develop the culture of
the population in the neighborhood.
Georgeta Nazarska
155
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About the author:
Georgeta Nazarska
University of Library Studies and Information Technologies
Bulgaria
e-mail: georgeta.nazarska@gmail.com
Georgeta Nazarska
