EXHIBITION FOR 160 YEARS SINCE THE BIRTH OF DIMITAR KUDOGLU
July 4, 11 p.m.
Next to the garden "Tsar Simeon"

2022 marks the 160th anniversary of the birth of Dimitar Petrov Kudoglu. On the occasion of the anniversary, the Regional History Museum - Plovdiv organizes an exhibition dedicated to the largest donor for Bulgarian healthcare. The exhibition consists of 20 panels and is located on the structures at the eastern end of the garden "Tsar Simeon". The place was not chosen by chance - across the street, where today is the Central Post Office of Plovdiv, used to be the "House of Charity and Public Health", established by Dimitar Kudoglu in 1927, so that the poor can be treated for free by the most dangerous diseases of society at the time. Plovdiv residents and guests of the city can now view the exhibition, and the official opening for the media by the Mayor of Plovdiv Zdravko Dimitrov and Chief Assistant. Dr. Stefan Shivachev - Director of the Regional History Museum, will be from 11:00 on July 4, 2022 (Monday).
WHO IS DIMITAR PETROV KUDOGLU?
Dimitar Petrov Kudoglu was born on August 21, 1862 in the Bulgarian village of Gabrovo, Xanthi, White Sea Thrace. His grandfather Georgi Kudev started a family tobacco company in the Aegean, Constantinople and the entire Ottoman Empire. He also accepted the suffix "oglu" to his name, as a recognition of the successes in trade and respect in the society of that time. Dimitar inherited the tobacco trade, multiplying the family's wealth. He lived in Xanthi until 1903, after which he moved to Dresden, one of the European centers for the trade in raw tobacco.
Kudoglu's donations began in the early 20th century with the provision of a hospital building and the payment of a doctor to treat his villagers in Gabrovo for free. After the burning of Gabrovo in 1913 by Greek troops, he helped his fellow refugees in Plovdiv. During the wars, his donations for soldiers, for free student canteens and the Red Cross exceeded BGN 1,000,000. After the war he founded a fund at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in his name for publishing literary works. She financed the study of gifted young Bulgarians in Europe, and supported the violinist Nedyalka Simeonova at her home in Dresden.
He knows that it is prestigious to donate for education and culture, but he focuses on healthcare to create a physically and morally healthy future generation. In 1927 he realized his idea for the establishment in Plovdiv of a health institution of a dispensary type, where the poor could be treated free of charge from the most socially dangerous diseases - tuberculosis, venereal and infant mortality. That is why he attracts the best Bulgarian doctors, buys one of the most prestigious buildings in Plovdiv on Central Square and provides the equipment of the Dimitar Petrov Kudoglu House of Charity and Public Health. According to the Articles of Association, he also donated two tobacco warehouses in Plovdiv, with the proceeds of which he provided for the maintenance of the Home. This act was adopted unanimously by the National Assembly of Bulgaria. Until 1944, the funds donated by him for the Home exceeded BGN 41,000,000. Undoubtedly, this is the biggest donation for the Bulgarian healthcare, and the health institution arouses the admiration of dozens of European newspapers and specialists. Dimitar Kudoglu died in Plovdiv in 1940.
After 1944, Dimitar Kudoglu's case was sentenced to oblivion. The foundation and the health institution were liquidated, his bust-monument in the garden "Tsar Simeon" was removed, and in 1974 the building of the Home was demolished. But the memory of the benefactor Dimitar Kudoglu remains a deep trace in the public consciousness of Plovdiv residents.