Following the Steps of a Map

The Map of National Unity

A unique relief plaster map of Bulgaria from 1928 can be seen on the 2nd floor of the renovated UNWE Library. It was exhibited on the occasion of 3 March in 2024. The author of the jewel work is General Clement Boyadzhiev, a hero of the wars for national unity. The map has been kept for years in the University's collections. In 2024 the Rector Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov entrusted to the Rector's Office to gather the information of the priceless artifact. 

The map is "II newly corrected edition 1928" of the first relief map of /Kingdom of/ Bulgaria, also by General Boyadzhiev from 1900. The second edition shows the borders of the Treaty of San Stefano of 1878, the Treaty of Bucharest of 1913 and the Treaty of Neuilly of 1919. It is made of plaster and has measures 188 cm length /127.5 cm height.  It is mentioned on it that it is approved by the Ministry of (National) Enlightenment.

In the National Museum of Education in Gabrovo is kept a copy of both the first and the second relief map of Bulgaria, made by General Boyadzhiev. One of them was donated by the Georgy S. Rakovsky Economic Technical School Varna / today Georgy S. Rakovsky High School of Trade/. The other was donated by the School in the village of Gradishte, Sevlievo, which shows that the cards were also sent to schools in the small settlements. It is impossible to say how many of the cards had been worked out, but they had also reached to the smaller schools. A copy of the second edition of the map is also kept in the St. St. Cyril and Methodius National Library where it is in the process of restoration.

The maps worked out by General Boyadzhiev were probably approved and produced by the Military Ministry /after 1911, the Ministry of War/ and by the order of the Ministry of National Enlightenment.

The first relief map of (Kingdom of) Bulgaria from 1900 /National Museum of Education, Gabrovo/

In the course of the research done by the UNWE about the relief maps several documents were found in the Central State Archives in the collection of General Kliment Boyadzhiev /f 515K/, which show that they are known beyond the borders of Bulgaria. There is a document about a diploma for awarding General Clement Boyadzhiev with a silver medal from the New York Artists' Organization for a relief map of Bulgaria he had worked out, signed by the Chief of the Provincial Art Department, New York. According to the military rank with which the author is mentioned – General - it is the map from 1928. A photograph of the relief map from the same year is included in the same archival unit.  The collection also includes a letter /transcript/ from the Russian Imperial Vice-Consulate in Varna to the City Commandant thanking to Lieutenant Colonel Clement Boyadzhiev on behalf of the Military Topographic Department of the General Headquarter for the relief map of Bulgaria sent as a gift and informing him that the Chief of the Headquarter had ordered it to be sent to the Winter Palace /after 1917 it was moved to the Hermitage Museum/.

This shows that the map worked out by General Clement Boyadzhiev goes beyond the borders of Bulgaria - both to the west and to the east.

The discovered materials were shared with the Institute of Cartography, the Museum of Education and St. St Cyril and Methodius National Library.

Lieutenant General, the last rank of Clement Boyadzhiev, hero of the wars for national unity of Bulgaria, was Minister of War /1913 – 1914/, served in the General Headquarter of the Bulgarian Army. During the Balkan War he distinguished himself in the fighting at Lyuleburgaz as Commander of the Fourth Infantry Preslav Division. During the First World War he commanded the First Bulgarian Army during its successful offensive in Serbia. During the First World War he commanded the largest military group - the First Army. The last order he received posthumously was the Order of Stara Planina 1st Class with Swords in 2013. Other Bulgarian, Russian and Turkish military decorations he was awarded include: Order of Valor, 2nd and 3rd Degrees, 2nd Class; the Order of St. Alexander 2nd Degree with Swords; Order of Military Merit, 4th Degree; Order of Merit on Military Ribbon; Russian Order of St. Stanislav, II Degree with a Star; and the Ottoman Liyakat Order with a Star for military merit on 18 December 1915.

Lieutenant General Clement Boyadzhiev died in 1933 in Sofia.