By Nikola Zafirov 

Ivan Dimitrov Shishmanov was born in 1862 in kin with much history. The Bulgarian mentality had little effect on the young boy, as at the age of 13 he was noticed and taken to study in Austria. From 1884 he studied philosophy all across Western Europe. He attended philology, literature and history lectures, but the comparative literature classes would be his favorites. During that time, he would also be introduced to the newly forming democratic principles and ideas and meet with many progressive thinkers.

Finally, having graduated with a doctorate in philosophy, the now professor returned to Bulgaria, where he quickly raised through the ranks of the Ministry of education. Finally, in 1903 he was called to head that institution. It proved to be a very hard task. His government was clearly a militaristically centered one; most people were still out of the education system; the typical of Bulgaria uneducated above-all mentality (best symbolized in the fiction character Bay Ganyo, coined by a relative of his - Aleko Konstantinov) was all throughout society. But he continued to be optimistic and saw education as the first step in the cultural significance Bulgaria deserved. In the humble 4 years as a minister, he did more than most of his predecessors and successors. The small budget he largely complemented with his connections to the Knyaz. He raised the teachers’ salaries; modernized the school material; made schools directors electable; equalized the female school system, paving the way for women to higher education. His time also saw the most easily available scholarships for higher education in Western Europe. He was one of the first to notice the talent of then-unheard poets such as Peyo Yavorov, Elin Pelin, Kiril Hristov, etc. But the biggest concern for the minister was the Higher School, which in his time was made university - the Sofia University. His fiercest attempt to modernize, to autonomize and to make it compete with prestigious Western European universities was magnificent, but largely forgotten.

But more than the minister of education, he was more or less also the first minister of culture. Under his signature the National Theater, the National Ethnology Museum, the Musical School and the Arts School were built. He funded and started numerous important archeological excavations; resumed many art exhibitions; the archeographic commission was restored and refunded; throughout all regions mass restorations of churches and monasteries began. And he also was not indifferent to people of literature. There are many documented letters between the professor and many of the large poets, artists, composers and actors of the time. But one of the most important friendships he had was with “the Patriarch of Bulgarian literature” - Ivan Vazov. All of Vazov’s later works are thought to be influenced at least to some extent by the world views and ideas the two exchanged privately. Today many of Vazov’s most sincere thoughts and confessions have survived, because they were written down in the Shishmanov’s notebook.

Shishmanov’s work as a minister would unexpectedly end in 1907. In the opening ceremony of the National Theater, humiliated by a group of anti-royalist students, the monarch in anger decided to crack down on these students by closing the whole of Sofia University for 6 months as well as firing all the teachers from it. Seeing this vandalous act of stupidity being done in front of his eyes to the institution he devoted so much of his heart and soul, and simultaneously being accused by the press of “destroying the youth”, the professor resigned the very next day.

His legacy must, however, not only be remembered by his minister successes. Prof. Shishmanov was one of the most productive humanitarian scientists of his time. He has in total published more than 300 scientific publications and dozens of books on topics of Bulgarian literature, history, language, ethnography and folklore. He was also the redactor of many literature and science magazines. His return to Bulgaria to continue teaching at Sofia University was met with applause from all students. His lectures on historical and comparative literature attracted people from all over Europe.

His political stances on Europe, and the Bulgarian place in it, should also be of great admiration. While being in the West, he wore a Bulgarian kalpak to signify his nationality, and while teaching western literature in Bulgaria, never missed to reference his homeland culture. But on the other side he was married to a Ukrainian. In time of widespread nationalism and rise of fascism and chauvinism, he also believed in United Europe, in Europe, which should never experience the atrocities of another war ever again. He was one of the initial founders of the Pan-European Congress, an association with final goal - "United States of Europe". In his later years he would attend many international peacekeeping and culture meetings, in one of which, in Oslo in 1928, his heart would finally stop beating at the age of 66.

It has been, and rightfully so said, that actions speak louder than words. This cannot be truer for prof. Shishmanov. His numerous legacies in all parts of societal development have left so much potential for Bulgaria to develop into a cultural European nation, an offer the country simply wasn"t ready to accept. And it is a big shame today few people remember this genius of post-liberation Bulgaria.

sources:

https://web.archive.org/web/20181111044037/https://www.bg-istoria.com/2012/08/blog-post_4529.html

https://books.google.bg/books?id=7RmqzPpmegEC&pg=PA480&dq=%D0%98%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD+%D0%A8%D0%B8%D1%88%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiAuObazsn7AhUORfEDHXVCAZ8Q6AF6BAgJEAI#v=onepage&q&f=false

https://duma.bg/nepoznatiyat-ivan-shishmanov-n34282

https://museite.com/index.php/library/museum-science-bulgaria/61-kulturnata-politika-v-nachaloto-na-xx-v