Lamartine's House. 플로브디프(Plovdiv)

Lamartine's House. 플로브디프(Plovdiv). 불가리아(Bulgaria)

Lamartin House

The house was owned by the Plovdiv merchant Georgi Mavridi. It was built in 1829-1830 by an unknown builder and is a representative of the Plovdiv symmetrical house. It has irregular outlines of the foundations due to the displacement of the terrain and the classical symmetry of the floors, enriched with numerous bay-windows, which give the building lightness and spaciousness.  The parlors and the rooms on the two floors have wood-carved ceilings and decorated with ornaments or landscapes niches called "alafranga" (meaning - in a Frenchmanner).

 The most significant event in the history of the 19th century building is the visit of the French diplomat and future minister, Alphonse de Lamartine. on August 2nd, 1833, he visited Georgi Mavridi's home and on August 6th continued his travels to Sofia. The 90 anniversary of the visit of the great Frenchman was solemnly celebrated on May 6th, 1923. In the presence of the French Plenipotentiary Minister Georges-Picot, the Minister of Education Stoyan Omarchevski, officials, alumni and many citizens, a memorial plate dedicated to the event was consecrated. Thus, along with the plate in memory of the famous Frenchman, the house of Georgi Mavridi was called the Lamartine House. The credit is to Gaston Sergerar, author of books on Bulgarian history, published in Paris, who for many years collected information about Lamartine, his trip through the Balkans and his stay in Plovdiv.

This building is not the only one in which Lamartine has stayed on Bulgarian land. But it is the only one who has survived through fires, earthquakes and misunderstool modernization, in order to keep the memory of Lamartin, the first French diplomat, who offically declared that the Bulgarians were completely ready and worthy of their freedom.

 In the newer history of the house, the visits of Rene Fouquet, Mayor of Paris and Edouard Herriot, twice the Prime Minister of France (both visits were in 1933, when 100 years of Lamartin's visit in Plovdiv were celebrated) should also be mentioned. In 1989 the house was visited by the French President Fransois Mitterrand.

 In 1960 a museum exhibition for Lamartine was opened in the house.

For many years the house has been used as a creative home of the Union of Bulgarian Writers.

 The building was renovated in 1929, 1947 and 1953, fortified in 955 and additionally restored in 1971 to 1975

Le Président de la République française François Mitterrand (1916-1996) s'est rendu dans cette maison pour un hommage au grand poète Alphonse de Lamartine, lors de sa visite historique en Bulgarie (18 et 19 janvier 1989). Il y prononça ces paroles prophétiques pour I'ensemble des pays alors sous domination communiste : "Avec I'autre Europe, j'ai le sentiment que les portes du siècle prochain s'ouvriront sur un air de liberté qui passera par les portes, par les fenêtres."

Apposé en janvier 2009 par M. Etienne de Poncins, Ambassadeur de France en Bularie, et M. Slavtcho Atanassov, Maire de Plovdiv, dans le cadre des commémorations du 20ème anniversaire de cette visite.

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