Monument to Stamen Panchev

The initiative to create the monument belonged to the Sursuvul officer community. The poet Stamen Panchev was a junior reserve officer and died at the front during the First Balkan War : despite his wound, he returned to the front after the capture of Adrianople . The Orhanians mourned for their fellow countryman, who became famous as a poet. In 1938, on the 25th anniversary of his death, a fund was raised to raise funds for the construction of the monument to the poet. On May 24, 1938, the first stone was solemnly laid in the foundation of the future monument in the presence of many citizens: the delegation was led by Captain Krastev, the poet's colleagues. On October 22, 1939, the monument was inaugurated in the presence of the wife of the poet Raina and son Paul, to whom Stamen dedicated the poem “To My Blue” ( Bulgarian: My Son ).

Architecturally, the monument was composed of welded granite blocks. The bas-relief is molten from bronze, the author is sculptor Yanko Pavlov. On the reverse side of the granite pedestal are lines from Panchev's poems. Around the monument were a green area with low decorative bushes and a metal fence, and a fountain was later built. The monument was located in the central Liberation Square, where celebrations and celebrations were held.

In the 1950s, the Botevgrad bus station appeared on the square, and the main road from Sofia to Ruse and Varna began to pass through the city. As a result, it was necessary to dismantle the monument. Over the next few years, granite blocks and bas-reliefs were stored in the building under construction at the elementary school named after Nikola Vaptsarov . The poet’s family demanded that the Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria immediately resolve this issue. The chairman of the Botevgrad City People’s Council, Savo Donchev, received a telegram from Prime Minister Vulko Chervenkov demanding that the monument be restored immediately and as quickly as possible. In January 1954, during severe frosts, workers were able to connect granite blocks with boiled cement, and collected a monument in the courtyard of the Vaptsarov school ^[1] .

The monument was moved to the street of Stamen Panchev, where he stood for 43 years. Only in this way was it possible to resolve the confusion and questions that arose. In 1996, the Orkhanets society sent a letter to the Botevgrad governor Georgy Peev and the community council with a request to return the monument to the Liberation Square. Peev agreed, having received permission from the Ministry of Culture, and on October 31, 1996, on the eve of the Day of Public Enlightenment the monument was inaugurated. The opening was attended by the granddaughter of the poet Rain Panchev and great-grandson of Stamen, as well as numerous members of the Pancev family, students and ordinary citizens ^[2] .

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  Solemn ceremony of laying the first stone in the foundation of the monument, May 24, 1938

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  Opening of the monument on October 22, 1939 on the day of the 60th anniversary of Panchev’s birth

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  Writer Serpent Goryanin at the opening of the monument