A ''chitalishte'' (, ) is a traditional Bulgarian public institution and building that fulfills several functions at once, such as a community centre,

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

, and a theatre. It is also used as an educational institution, where people of all ages can enroll in foreign language, dance, music and other courses. In this function they could be compared to the

folk high school Folk high schools (also ''adult education center'') are institutions for adult education that generally do not grant academic degrees, though certain courses might exist leading to that goal. They are most commonly found in Nordic countries and i ...

s of Northern Europe. Some larger urban ''chitalishta'' are comparable to 92nd Street Y in New York City.

Etymology

The term ''chitalishte'' combines the Bulgarian Slavic root, ''chital-'' ("reading") and the suffix ''-ishte'' (a place where preceding verb happens). Thus ''chitalishte'' literally means "reading place" or "reading room", a place where books are kept for public use.

History

The chitalishta of the 19th and early 20th century had a crucial role in preserving and developing Bulgarian culture and thus played an important role during the

Bulgarian National Revival The Bulgarian Revival (, ''Balgarsko vazrazhdane'' or simply: Възраждане, ''Vazrazhdane'', and ), sometimes called the Bulgarian National Revival, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian pe ...

. The first institutions of this kind emerged towards the end of the Ottoman era, in 1856 in the towns of

Shumen Shumen (, also Romanization of Bulgarian, romanized as ''Shoumen'' or ''Šumen'', ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, tenth-largest city in Bulgaria and the administrative and economic capital of Shumen Province. Etymology The city ...

, Lom and

Svishtov Svishtov ( ) List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, is a town in northern Bulgaria, located in Veliko Tarnovo Province on the right bank of the Danube river opposite the Romanian town of Zimnicea. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous S ...

. Later, the ''chitalishte'' became an important multi-purpose institution in villages and smaller towns. Today, ''chitalishta'' are less widely spread and have decreasingly critical roles, mostly due to lack of funding. They are evolving and adapting by also hosting public events, and housing cinema halls and other modern organisations. In December 2017 the Bulgarian Chitalishte was Selected on the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Buildings

Many ''chitalishte'' buildings are protected

heritage asset A heritage asset is an item which has value because of its contribution to a nation's society, knowledge and/or culture. Such items are usually physical assets, but some countries also use the term in relation to intangible social and spiritual inhe ...

s, being examples of either traditional Bulgarian architecture, or

fin de siècle "''Fin de siècle''" () is a French term meaning , a phrase which typically encompasses both the meaning of the similar English idiom '' turn of the century'' and also makes reference to the closing of one era and onset of another. Without co ...

European architecture. Dedicated ''chitalishte'' buildings continued to be built well into the 20th century and under the communist regime, in widely ranging architectural styles - form New Classicism to

modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

. File:Shumen chitalishte Dobri Voynikov.jpg, ''Dobri Voynikov'' (orig. ''Archangel Michael''),

, built 1898 File:Читалище Отец Паисий Самоков.jpg, ''Father Paisius'',

Samokov Samokov ( ) List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, is a town in Sofia Province in the southwest of Bulgaria. It is situated in Samokov Valley between the mountain ranges of Rila, Vitosha and Sredna Gora, 55 kilometres from the capital Sofia. Due ...

, built 1925-1929 as both a ''chitalishte'' and a war memorial File:Haskovo-chitalishte-Zarya.JPG, ''Zarya'', Haskovo, built 1960s File:Botevgrad-culture-house-Hristo-Botev.jpg, ''Hristo Botev'',

Blagoevgrad Blagoevgrad ( ) is List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, а town in Southwestern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Blagoevgrad Municipality and of Blagoevgrad Province. With a population of almost inhabitants, it is the economic and cultura ...

, built 1960s

Legislation

Legally, ''chitalishta'' are regulated by the Law about People's ''Chitalishta'' ().https://lex.bg/laws/ldoc/2133897729 The Bulgarian Ministry of Culture maintains a registry of ''chitalishta'' and the associations that manage them. They receive subsidies from both the Ministry and municipal governments. Since 2009, the official name of a ''chitalishte'' must contain the year of its founding (e.g. Videlina-1862).

References

{{reflist

Etymology

History

Buildings

Legislation

References

See also