Documentary, 61’ / 2025
For centuries, the Bulgarian town of Chiprovtsi has been known for its colorful handwoven carpets. Today, this art is beginning to disappear, much like the forgotten history of three Catholic bishops born in the town during the 17th century.
In a small village in central Italy, Father Angelo, already ill, writes a book in Bulgarian dedicated to these three men. He researched their history during his ten-year stay in Bulgaria.
The Slavist Prof. Stanchev lives in Rome and has been searching for documents about the author of the first known “History of Bulgaria,” Petar Bogdan Bakshev. A copy of the original was discovered in Modena by linguist Prof. Lili Iliewa.
In the 17th century, when the West was experiencing a Renaissance, in still medieval Bulgarian territories, Bishop Philip Stanislavov of Nicopolis compiled the first printed Bulgarian book, “Abagar.” Meanwhile, Bishop Peter Parchevich, known as the first Bulgarian diplomat and awarded the title of baron by the Austrian king, traveled across Europe to motivate Western powers to liberate European nations from Ottoman rule.
Today, in the Italian capital, tour guide Veneta Nenkova shows tourists the buildings where the three Catholic bishops lived and studied.
Tired of constant rejections and intrigues within the Catholic Church, Parchevich died in 1674 in Rome. The same year, Petar Bogdan and Philip Stanislavov also passed away in Bulgaria.
The uprising organized by the three bishops broke out fourteen years after their deaths. It was suppressed, and Chiprovtsi was destroyed. The survivors fled westward.
After archaeological excavations, the remains of the first Bulgarian Catholics were discovered, and at the initiative of the director of the local museum, Anita Komitska, they were laid to rest in a newly built Catholic chapel near the ruins of a cathedral constructed in the 17th century by the first Bulgarian Catholics.