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K. Fotinov
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| Konstantin Fotinov |
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Konstantin Fotinov was born in the town of Samokov about the year 1800. The exact date of his birth is unknown. Samokov used to be a town with flourishing business and culture.
All the care for the education and upbringing of Fotinov were taken by his grandmother Fota on his father’s side – one of the few well-known women in Bulgaria – intelligent and ambitious. She opened his mind. She was a quiet person, studying hard. As a nun she went to Russia, taking the young Konstantin with her. When she returned to Samokov she founded a cloister for women to disseminate knowledge and spiritual discipline. Konstantin grew up under the care of his grandmother Fota. His relation to her was so close, that he took over her name as surname - Fotinov.
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In 1828 Fotinov opened the first private school in Smirna to teach Bulgarians and Greek in Christian religion, calligraphy and music. He became a famous teacher and connoisseur of church songs. He saw how the Turks, Greek, Armenians and Jews had their own papers and magazines, but in Bulgaria there were just a few booklets for children. His love to his homeland and patriotic ambition inspired him to publish the first Bulgarian magazine “Lyuboslovie” with articles in history, geography, mathematics and a lot of pictures. Fotinov made the readers familiar with the steam ship, balloon, railway, pipeline, explained the structure of the brain and gave instructions in hygiene. The magazine ”Lyuboslovie” was a rare encyclopaedia “looking for the common benefit for everyone – rich and poor, old, young, etc”.
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