Ayazmoto Park

Overview

Metropolitan Metodiy Kusev Park (more commonly called Ayazmoto) is a park in Stara Zagora.

During socialism, it was officially renamed Lenin Park, but the city's residents still call it Ayazmoto. It is located on an area of ​​3500 decares north of the city, it has unique tree species for Bulgaria.

The Ayazmoto area is one of the highest points of the city of Stara Zagora after Dabrava. The park is part of the mountainous part of Sarnena Gora. The altitude varies from 260 m to 430 m in its highest parts where the city observatory is located. A very common phenomenon in winter is to have a snow cover, unlike the city center.

The holy spring is connected with the legends that Prince Boris I accepted Christianity here.

In favor of this statement are several indisputable facts such as the centuries-old respect of the city's population to the top of Ayazmoto. Every year on St. Todor's Day, the day of the patron saint of the city, the Bulgarians climbed to the top of Ayazmoto and washed with the miraculous water of the spring. Priests from the nearby church "St. Trinity ”, where there is a special throne and an icon dedicated to the saint, celebrated a liturgy at the top. It was here that the center of a powerful Christian center of about 10 monasteries and hermitages was located. 7 ancient monasteries and one large palace were discovered. For this reason, in the first centuries of the Ottoman rule, the nearby Dragon Pass was called in Turkish Kilisanja Dervent-Church Pass. It was only after the decision of the Politburo of the Bulgarian Communist Party in 1951 to "fight against religious prejudice" that the tradition was banned and Ayazmoto simply became a park.

Prince Boris died on May 2, 907. Borisov Day has always been celebrated on this date with a liturgy in the churches. Only in Stara Zagora before the Liberation did all the clergy go out on this day on Ayazmoto and turn the service into a city holiday. In the church of Ayazmoto, which is still called "St. Theodore Tyrone "has an icon that shows the baptism of Prince Boris. The church itself is named after Prince Boris. Another church in Stara Zagora is named after the prince. The Dimitar Blagoev School and the Fifth of October Park - Knyaz Borisova Gradina also bore his name.

From the whole territory of medieval Bulgaria, only here, in Stara Zagora, the local population believes and keeps the memory that the baptism took place in their city and annually celebrates this event. In honor of this event, with a number of decisions, the newly liberated citizens of Stara Zagora, along with the restoration of their destroyed city, emphasize the historically built spiritual image of their city. They named their first school, a street and a church in the city built in 1885 after Prince Boris the Baptist. Even today, the laity of Stara Zagora know that it is St. Theodore Tyrone has been the spiritual patron of the City of Limes since 864.

On May 2, 1895 - the Day of Tsar Boris the Baptist, the first stone was laid by the Metropolitan of Stara Zagora Methodius for the new church. By decision of the Holy Synod, his second throne was named after Prince Boris. The church of St. Theodore Tyrone itself, which rises on top of Ayazmoto, is listed in the UNESCO book as unique and unique due to the fact that only it presents the Bulgarian costume over 300 years ago. The other curious thing in this temple is that it is all icon-painted only with Bulgarian saints.

In a publication from February 1944, entitled "Legend of Ayazmoto" we read: "In this church he accepted the faith of Christ and St. Tsar Boris. He came from afar all the way behind the Balkans. Because there (in Pliska) he was surrounded by pagan boyars and ruthless enemies of Christianity. That is why he came here, in the Bulgarian Christian town of Vereya. He came here with joy and enthusiasm among Christians to receive his baptism. That's why this place is so sacred. "

In 1910, prominent historians visited Stara Zagora during a scientific congress in Sofia, held from June 24 to 28. These are Prof. Ivan Savich Palmov, a history teacher at the Theological Academy in St. Petersburg, the theologian Alexander Chuchulain and the journalists Guchkov and Kramarzh. All of them claim that Tsar Boris was baptized on the Stara Zagora Holy Spring, and one of them even exclaims: "You do not know what an important and sacred place we stand on!"

Prof. Palmov adds: “St. Prince Boris met 3 times with the Byzantine patriarch Photius here to negotiate the issue of baptism ... It is known from history that the voivodes of Boris rebelled against the baptism of the Bulgarian people. Only one - the prince of Zagora Tsolo, due to the fact that he was already baptized, became an ally of the prince and patron of the movement for this purpose. That is why St. Boris negotiated with Photia in Zagorie under the protection of Prince Tsolyu. Where did Photius baptize Boris? Naturally, in the place free from the voivodship raids - in Zagorie. Where in Zagorie? Of course, near the miraculous spring of Ayazmoto, where Princess Theodora and her father, Prince Tsolo, were baptized.

The park was established on February 28, 1895 by Metropolitan Methodius Kusev under the name "St. Prince Boris-Mikhail ”(“ Ayazmoto ”). Until the beginning of the 19th century, an oak forest stretched on this place, but it was cut down by the Turkish army to ensure the safe residence of the sultan's vizier, who was staying in Stara Zagora during his tour of the Ottoman Empire. Erosion processes wash away the soil and turn the place into a bare rocky and waterless hill.

Towards the end of the 19th century, Metropolitan Metodiy Kusev took on the difficult task of reviving the park. From the very beginning, the idea of ​​arranging a city park was accepted skeptically by the people of Stara Zagora. Enthusiastic Metodiy Kusev encounters a number of obstacles in realizing his idea to turn the bare bair above the city into a modern park. He began sending letters to Orthodox monasteries and church communities around the world asking him to send seeds of various tree species. He personally supervises the carts with saplings, some of which come from the White Sea and the Sea of ​​Marmara, and some of the trees he planted are alive. Soon, however, the bishop had to face the wrath of the people, who realized that this would lead to the loss of their pastures. Most residents then thought that afforestation and settlement of such useless space was madness and grazing was far more important for their livestock. With a lot of convictions and requests, Metodiy Kusev managed to do the work of his life. In the end, the metropolitan managed to create an incredibly beautiful and plant-rich forest park and made it one of the pride of the city.

Later the park was renamed in honor of Metropolitan Methodius Kusev.

Rare and unique for Bulgaria plant species grow in the park, most of them personally planted by Metodiy Kusev. These species include 180 native and exotic tree and shrub species including common cypress, black pine, satin cedar, Aleppo pine, silver spruce, eastern thuja, Spanish fir and paradise apple. Of the animal species there are deer, Eastern European hedgehogs, tortoises, squirrels.

In front of the park entrance near the bas-relief monument of Metropolitan Kusev there is a fountain with a round shape and metal frogs on the periphery. In the 60's the fountain was full of water and a jet of water came out of the mouth of each frog. Since the mid-1970s, due to the water and energy crisis, the fountain has been more often empty.

The Stara Zagora Zoo is also located in the park, where you can see camels, llamas, bears, beavers and various birds.

Other landmarks are the Hall of Laughter with curved mirrors, the residence of the Metropolitan of Stara Zagora, a chapel, the monuments of Metropolitan Metodiy Kusev and Aleko Konstantinov, the Central Laboratory of Solar-Earth Impacts, the telescope of the People's Astronomical Observatory "Yuri Gagarin" tennis courts, badminton courts, chalets, a hotel, a restaurant and a summer theater, where concerts were given by Lili Ivanova, Emil Dimitrov, The Crickets, Yuraya Heep and Boney M..