At a special press conference, the Director of the Regional History Museum Tanya Todorova summarized the results of the campaign “To the givers – with gratitude!”, which was launched in October and was finalized today with the presentation of a Certificate of Donation to the family of Simeon Zahariev, which decided and provided for storage in the museum personal archive of the honorary citizen of Razgrad.
The ceremony was attended by Simeon Zahariev’s daughter Nadia, her brother Mihail and her children Neda and Simeon, named after their grandfather.
In front of all of them, on the eve of the Christmas and New Year holidays, Tanya Todorova expressed her and her colleagues at the museum’s most sincere gratitude to the givers, who with their involvement in history supplemented and enriched the museum’s collection and who continue the centuries-old Bulgarian tradition of having a memory.
The director of the museum announced that the personal archive of Simeon Zahariev will be separated into a separate fund, bearing his name – of the long-time chairman of the Regional Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, of a municipal councilor and public figure. Of the man who left an indelible mark on the development of the economy of Razgrad in the second half of the 20th century. At the press conference today, only a very small part of his archive was presented.
“I want to clarify that the donation is from mom – Ofelia Zaharieva. She was the person who arranged and collected all the materials and we brought them to the museum because we believe that here they will be in the best hands to serve researchers, who in turn will preserve the memory of what Razgrad was like and how it developed”, said Nadya Zaharieva on behalf of the family. And she continued: “Dad loved and cared for his native Razgrad and always did for the city what he had strived for all his life – to improve the lives of the people here.
Dad was extremely intelligent and curious. An experimenter and visionary. Almost half a century before renewable energy became a global topic, he founded the “New Energy Sources” enterprise in Razgrad. We didn’t have an expensive car, but we had a huge library. He read constantly. He was modest and reserved, he let his actions speak for themselves, not his words. With his help, the “Steinway” grand piano was purchased, which is in the “Philharmonic” Hall, and very few cities can boast of such an instrument. He loved art and music, he loved his garden and his workshop full of electronic gadgets. I miss his wise advice and his wonderful sense of humor. I know that when we meet on the other side someday, he will smile under his mustache, shrug his shoulders and say: “Big job, big successes on minor problems. Let’s act, there is a lot to do here!”
I hope people remember him like this – with a generous heart and a great mind.”
“He always said that the most important thing for a city is the economy and when he was in office, he did what depended on him. The city should have good enterprises and water supply and whether the squares would be more lively, was secondary to him”, added the portrait of his father Mihail Zahariev. And his granddaughter Neda added: “I remember him as a very easy-going person who had a great sense of humor, with which he approached everything around us.”
The heirs of Simeon Zahariev received the certificate of donation, the new calendar and advertising materials from the director of RHM – Razgrad Tanya Todorova.
Some of the donations from other givers who participated in the campaign were also exhibited in the hall.
The meeting today was also attended by the editor-in-chief of “Ekip 7” Mitko Hanchev with three more photos from the newspaper’s collection and he personally promised that he and the editorial board of the publication would add more to the museum’s collections.
You can see the stories in text and photos about the other givers and what they donated in the past year on the museum’s facebook page and website.
