Ruse Men's High School

Overview

The building of the Men's High School in the city of Ruse (today's Hristo Botev High School) was built in the period 1894-1898. The building is located in the old city center, on the diagonal of the then District Administration (today's Historical Museum).

The project is by the architect Petko Momchilov, who graduated in Prague. The construction manager is architect Ya. Shamardzhiev, a graduate of Gand - Belgium, and the entrepreneur - Xenophon Hadji Petrov. The design of the building was assigned in 1892 to Momchilov, then a state architect in the Ministry of Public Works, and known as "architect of the study and design of men's high schools in Veliko Tarnovo, Ruse and Vidin." This is his first completed project.

The then Ministry of Public Education required the Boys' High School to be exemplary and allocated sufficient funds to arrange rich classrooms, auditoriums, drawing and gymnasiums, laboratories and a library. The construction of the building amounts to 720,000 gold levs. It consists of a ground floor and a first floor, as well as a basement under the whole building. The desire for architectural synchronicity between the building of the Men's High School and the District Administration is obvious, although The school officially adopted its current name "Hristo Botev" on May 30, 1945. During his teaching at the Men's High School "Prince Boris I". Stoyan Mihajlovski wrote the text of the anthem "Varvi, narode vazrodeni" (April 15, 1892).