Ruse

by Andy Anderson

Andy Anderson moved to the Bulgarian city of Ruse in 1998 to work as Technical Director for the United Nations Beautiful Bulgaria Project, which renovated hundreds of monuments of culture and historic buildings across Bulgaria. Today, 16 years later, Andy still lives in Ruse and is also putting together a book about the British community in the Ruse region in the past.

“As the project began, and we hired staff, and set up an office, I got to know my colleagues and learn fascinating insights into small town life in Bulgaria – (such as everybody knows everybody else!) It became clear that local people were both very welcoming, and warm. Office meetings often merged into long lunches and dinners.” – Andy Anderson

As I sat down to write this blog, the autumn sunshine outside reminded me of my first ever visit to Bulgaria in 1996 on a sponsored cycle ride from London to Istanbul, the route of which just happened to pass through Bulgaria – though at that time it was a country I knew nothing about. It was September by the time we reached the south east of Romania, and another lovely sunny day. We crossed the Danube by the ferry to the town of Silistra – the first Bulgaria town I ever entered – and I was surprised to see Cyrillic writing everywhere. (At that point I never dreamed that one and a half years later I would be opening a UNDP office in the same town, and beginning the process of selecting and renovating historic building).

As well as the surprise of the alphabet (long, forgotten statistics lessons suddenly came in useful), the main impression was of a stunning forested, countryside, and glorious miles of car-free, rural roads – perfect for cycling. The Bulgarian landscape was a welcome change from the Wallachian Plains which had spread out either side of the road for past several days; the tree species became decidedly more southern European, and the cliffs and rock formations described a wilder and more dramatic scenery than we had been used to until then. It was ideal cycling weather, and a Bulgarian “Gypsy summer” was much nicer than the English one we had left behind in London two months earlier. I remember days of feasting in Varna on caviar and Russian champagne, and enjoying an atmostphere more eastern in flavour.

The last few days of our trip through Bulgaria were along the Black Sea coast and up to the tiny border town of Malko Turnovo, entering thus into Turkey. I didn’t return to Bulgaria again until 1998. One chilly February in London, I answered the telephone to an urgent request from UNV (United Nations Volunteers – a kind of VSO system used by UN agencies) to go to Bulgaria at two weeks notice and join a UNDP Project which aimed at renovating historic buildings. Just as importantly the project aimed generate employment as well as training for local unemployed to take part in the city restoration works. The project was initially to be set up in the country’s five larger cities (Sofia, Varna, Plovdiv, Veliko Turnovo and Ruse) and I was to go and set up the project office in Ruse. Pleasant memories from my earlier cycling trip was a definite encouragement to go – and by complete coincidence my co-cyclist, and friend from University, Stephane Lambert, was also offered the same job but in Veliko Turnovo!

The whole process of packing and getting ready was rushed but very exciting, not least to be part of a reconstruction connected with historic buildings but with a social angle too. After a week of preparation and briefings in Sofia I was heading to Ruse one Saturday on a grey and foggy morning, sitting in our UN 4×4, speeding past bleak, snow covered fields. As we passed over the brow of the hill and looked down into Ruse – a sea of socialist blocks shrouded in a cold, grey mist – I must admit my heart slightly sunk at the prospect of spending 12 months there. As I sit here some 16 years later it is a lesson that first impressions are not always correct.

As the project began, and we hired staff, and set up an office, I got to know my colleagues and learn fascinating insights into small town life in Bulgaria – (such as everybody knows everybody else!) It became clear that local people were both very welcoming, and warm. Office meetings often merged into long lunches and dinners. The human connection at work was important in building trust and sharing a vision of the town’s renovation – alongside this the technical and managerial skills were very good, and people worked long hours on all days of the week to get the project set up and running. (Plamen, Velisara, Tanya, Jifka, Angel and Yavour remain friends to this day). The first scaffolding appeared on the City Historical Museum within a matter of months and previously unemployed workers were helping to renovate the lovely 19th century facade.

In those early months in 1998 I was the only British person living in Ruse – in sharp contrast to now. There are many stories from those early days but one which stands out was when I first came across the graves of two British soldiers in the a 16th century Churchyard in the centre of town (a building part of our renovation plans). My own ignorance of historical events made it hard for me to understand why two Royal Engineers should be buried in the Church of a small town in northern Bulgaria. One of the inscriptions reads in English:

“Here lies Lieutenant William Meynall, Royal Engineers of Meynall-Langley, Derbyshire, who whilst on leave from his regiment in India was killed in action leading a troop of gallant Turkish soldiers against a larger Russian force in the Battle of Giorgevo, 9th July 1854, aged 29”.

It was this gravestone which started me on a long journey of historical research into the British community in Rustchuk, and its role and relations to the communities in the past – Bulgarian, Turkish, and other European powers. The grave also illustrated that in the past, the British had quite a strong involvement in this part of the world, though perhaps not in the way we normally experience through parts of the former British Empire. The words also hint at a globalised world – in one paragraph are mentioned England, India, Russia, Turkey and Romania. And the fact that Ruse was much less of a backwater in the past than could sometimes appear.

As my research developed, (which I am now trying to turn into a book with the encouragement of embassy staff) the extent of the British community became clear – in fact there were many British engineers and staff working here in the 1860’s helping to build the first railway line from Ruse (Rustchuk) to Varna that they formed a cricket team. Presumably two.

The two dead officers, both Royal Engineers, were killed during the opening shots of the Crimean war – which began that month in 1854. The Turkish (Ottoman) fortress towns such as Ruse, Silistra and Vidin had a long association of British military advisers, especially with regard to fortifications and engineering skills.

I found out later that in the small village church in Langley-Meynall, Derbyshire there is a memorial for Lieutenant William Meynell, commemorating his death and burial in a faraway town called Rustchuk. It’s surely a tribute to the people of Ruse – through the subsequent Liberation War, the two world wars and the socialist period – that these graves have been protected and looked after.