Dobri Voynikov House Museum in Shumen

Overview

Dobri  Voynikov was a Bulgarian teacher, playwright, and journalist of the Bulgarian National Revival (Renaissance). He is regarded as the father of modern Bulgarian theatre and the first Bulgarian producer. Voynikov was among the founders of the Bulgarian Academy of sciences.

Voynikov was born in the town of Şumnu, the Ottoman empire (now Shumen, Bulgaria) in 1833. He graduated from a high school in Istanbul and became a teacher in Shumen, where he remained until 1864. In Shumen, he was an active public figure and took an active part in the Bulgarian church struggle and the establishment of secular Bulgarian education.

The house of the prominent Bulgarian is an architectural monument from the National Renaissance/Revival era and was built by himself in 1862, in the yard of his father's house.

The interior of the house has been completely restored with the personal belongings of the family and original materials from the time when he lived there. Here one can feel the patriarchal spirit of the National Renaissance as well as the European influence, both transferred by its owners. A documentary exposition reveals the cultural and historical processes that took place in the Bulgarian lands and the role that Voynikov has played.