Museum dedicated to Bulgarian literary hero Bai Ganyo opens in village of Enina

Aleko Konstantinov is the first intellectual writer on the Bulgarian literary scene. He was known as a journalist, publicist, linguist with great influence in public life since the end of the 19th century.

Even during his lifetime, Aleko's two most famous works "To Chicago and Back" and "Bai Ganyo" became the first bestsellers written in Bulgaria. The satirical stories about the misadventures of the hero, whom we define as a collective image of the typical Bulgarian "Bai Ganyo", are among the most translated and recognizable works from Bulgaria.

Aleko Konstantinov is perceived as a man with a keen conscience and sense for the shortcomings of Bulgarian society. But his image cannot be separated from that of his character Bai Ganyo. There is even a dispute about who is more famous – the writer or his most famous literary character. Therefore, it is very important how the idea of "Bai Ganyo" was born.

Literary criticism is still discussing whether this is a national image, i.e. whether Bai Ganyo bears the typical traits of a Bulgarian and draws from our national psychology or is a social type. In his character, Aleko recreates the image of the bourgeoisie, the nouveau riche and the parvenue of the late 19th century. The book is a political satire that ridicules the ruling elite, which is why critics define Bai Ganyo as a collective image of the political elite of that time.

Bai Ganyo does not have a sense of proportion, delicacy and politeness, he is in complete contrast to the upbringing and values of modern Europe. His creator emphasizes that his hero is not only a man without ideals, but also greedy, insatiable, with proverbial unscrupulousness.

An assassination attempt due to political disagreements in 1897 ended the life of the writer Aleko Konstantinov. At that time, Bulgarian society was marked by extreme divisions, enmity, hatred, and the division between Russophiles and Russophobes was also relevant. Such unceasing squabbles led to the political crisis in Bulgaria.

Those times are very similar to today's, although they did not reach tragic extremes. Aleko's hope, expressed in his work of the same name, continues to be relevant today. And it is that one day Bai Ganyo will wake up and be different from the satirical hero we know.

The hope that the much-desired change will occur is also behind the newly opened Bai Ganyo Museum in the village of Enina - the birthplace of Ganyo Somov, one of the most recognizable prototypes of Aleko's hero. He was one of the people whom Aleko Konstantinov met during his visit to the trade fair in Chicago.

The doors of the museum are opened today by Rumen Somov, also from the village of Enina and the great-grandson of the man who served as the prototype of Aleko Konstantinov's hero. Rumen collected everything in the exhibition himself with the help of his family and friends.

The interest from tourists came fast. People started coming in the first days after the opening of the museum. They are mostly interested in the history and the collection of artifacts that testify to the time in which Aleko Konstantinov lived.

"Ganyo Somov is the person about whom the most data has been preserved, such as photographs and descriptions, compared to the other real people who served to create Aleko's famous character," Rumen Somov tells us and continues:

"The museum does not emphasize so much on the fact that the prototype is from Enina and it is precisely Ganyo Somov. I rather wanted to draw attention to the deserved place that he has in literature and in society, because this work is immortal and we should treat it the same way as in Spain, for example, they treat the images of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. They have been turned into tourist emblems of the country and no one is ashamed of how the author described them. The fact that there is interest in our hero Bai Ganyo even today says that his traits continue to exist and we recognize them both in ourselves and in other Bulgarians. In each of us there is a little of Aleko and a little of Bai Ganyo. The fact that we are still ashamed of this hero means that he is everywhere. Let us recall how elections are held in Bulgaria and if we read the chapter "Bai Ganyo makes elections", we will see that this reading turns out to be a manual for making elections. And today we see what Aleko described happening (more than a century ago - ed.)."

Most of the things in the museum were made by hand, with a lot of love and with personal funds by Rumen Somov himself, who worked for the museum for 11 years, and today says that this is his dream come true.

Among the valuable exhibits of the museum in the village of Enina are an original seal of the Bulgarian pavilion from the world exhibition in Chicago - the place where the meeting between the writer and the prototype of his character took place.

Behind the display cases is also arranged a small collection of caricatures and letters from the writer Chudomir, autographs by actor Georgi Kaloyanchev - famous for his role as Bai Ganyo, and dozens of rare documents from the era of Aleko Konstantinov. The museum also houses over 300 books, paintings and photographs related to Aleko Konstantinov and Bai Ganyo.