Οι Βούλγαροι στην Αλβανία

1. „We were told by Bulgarians…
Bulgarians in the area of ​​Korca and
Mala Prespa – Albania“
Anastasia Pashova

2. Korcha
• The town of Korca is
the regional center of
southern Albania.
• In the 15th-17th
centuries, the city and
the region were
inhabited exclusively
by Bulgarians, and it
was not until the 19th
century that Albanians
took the lead over
Bulgarians.
• The name of the town is
derived from the
Bulgarian medieval
name "mountain".

3. Korca in the past
• About 70,000 people now live in Korca, among whom are
many descendants of the old Bulgarians. 70% of the city's
population are Muslim and the remaining 30% are Orthodox
Christians.

4. The market and the hospital - the 30s - Korca

5. Коrca – 30-s

6. Bоbоshtitsa
• The closest village to
Korca, which still holds
the memory of
Bulgarians in the past,
is Boboshtitsa.
• Our colleague and
participant in the
expedition Dimitar
Belo had previously
arranged for us to
meet with one of the
few remaining
Bulgarians in
Boboshtitsa - Iliya
Koneshka.

7. Meeting with Ilia Koneshka
• Bai Ilia is an eighty-year-
old senior who graduated
in engineering in the
Czech Republic in 1951. -
a smiling, warm-hearted
and intelligent person.
• He was born in 1925 in
Boboshtitsa and speaks,
the only one in the
village, already forgotten
here.
• He worked in Tirana for
five years at a textile mill,
then worked as a
mechanics teacher in
Korca, and then for 13
years at a textile mill in
Korca.

8. The monastery “St. Our Lady ”- Boboshtitsa
• The first thing we went
to look at was the
monastery “St. The
Virgin Mary ”, which is
located on a hill near
the village.
• We traveled along a
narrow dirt road,
surrounded by
picturesque small
houses with colorful
gardens in front of
them.

10. • Only the walls are left of the church and the
monastery.
• The church is in poor condition because during
Enver Hoxha's time it was used as a barn and barn.
• The tower was built after 1990 and the cross was
erected at that time. "Before the communists came,
the monastery was two floors and the upper one
was a hotel where worshipers from Korca came. The
monastery had its own farm. There were also many
murals inside the church, but now there are few left.
• There was a very nice oak forest around the
monastery, the cuckoo sang, but then the
Communists cut it down and now there is nothing
left. "

11. The story of Ilia Koneshka
• He told us about his father,
who had graduated from a
Greek high school in Korca
and then became a teacher
in Boboshtitsa. With
remorse, he remembered
him and how much he
wanted to hear nothing but
good about the village.
• The village itself was much
nicer and bigger, with big
and nice houses, but in
1944 it was burnt down and
looted by the Germans.
There were only such
houses in two villages in
Albania - Boboshtica and
Drenovo.
• In both villages Bulgarians
lived. The houses spoke
Bulgarian..

12. He told us that the village was only Bulgarian but
Turks passed by, some liked it and settled one or two
families.
Later, Albanians came down from the mountains and
also settled in the village.
The memory of people in the past and now is
agriculture and animal husbandry.
Boboshtica is the only village in Albania, Macedonia and
Greece where people grow mulberries. 500 trees
were sown here. It is likely that the first Bulgarians
brought them from Bulgaria. No mulberries were
grown anywhere. From them, people still make a
wonderful mulberry brandy.
Bai Ilia suggested that perhaps earlier, the Bulgarians
were growing bugs here and that is why they planted
so many mulberry trees.

13. The surroundings of Boboshtitsa
Bai Ilia also told us
about the Bulgarian names
of the localities around -
the yard is opposite,
Kamenitsa is further on,
the mountain next to it is
Walnut and the area below
it is Belaya Voda. Next to it
is Starovo, Rye and others.
After the barriers are the
Rye and Star areas. The
river that flows below the
summit is called Podvrh,
and the mountain is Fox
(bare mountain, oily), then
the other mountain is
called Bigla. And here is
this village there is
Danube..

15. The Church of St. Nicholas
The church we saw
at the cemetery or
rather its remains
was built, according
to Bye Ilia, in the
sixteenth century.
According to his
father's story, it was
two floors, there
was a choir, and the
church itself was
very large.
Now there are only a
few murals left.
The church was
destroyed in 1978

16. The tower and other frescoes from the church

17. Here are the names of the donors

18. The housekeeper's grave
The first thing Elijah
Koneshko showed us
when we went to the
cemetery and the
monastery next to him
was the grave of a man,
an economist, who in 1860
told the Greek bishop that
the people of the village
did not want to listen to
the liturgies in Greek but
in Bulgarian .
He told us that his tomb was
written in Greek by his
heirs, even though he had
introduced a church
service in Bulgarian to the
church..

19. Cemetery tower
• We also filmed the bell
tower of the cemetery,
which is well maintained
and new. It was built with
funds from rural people
living in America.
• We also saw the stone on
which the year of
construction of the old
bell tower was written -
1805.
• It was lower because it
was not allowed to be
built higher than the
mosques of the mosques.
The tower was one of the
first to be built after
communism.

20. Meeting with Sotir Bambouli
• At the cemetery, we also met
Sotir Bambuli - this is the man
who is now taking care of the
restoration of the churches
around this area.
• He was a teacher, taught physics
and is now a retiree. He told us
that at the beginning all the
tombstones were in Bulgarian,
but in Latin letters, then in
Greek, and more recently in
Albanian.
• He also defines himself as
Bulgarian, though he does not
speak, only understands
Bulgarian.
• At our request, he brought us a
book by Andre Mazon, "Tales
and Songs from Southern
Albania," which he holds as a
shr

21. We're looking at Andre Mazon's book
• We shot parts of the book and the
photos in it. It is written in French
and Boboschino dialect, but in Latin.
• Bai Ilia Koneshka proudly showed
us the pictures of his family and his
mother in the book.
• He told us that he himself
remembers Mazon, who had lived
with them for several months in
1933.
• He was invited by his father and
recorded tales, sayings, songs and
legends.
• He wanted to study the speech of
the local Bulgarian population.
• We looked at the book in detail and
saw that the entire first part was of
tales, parables and legends from this
region.
• The second part describes the
Bulgarian families of Koneshkov,
Tsantsov, Bialtsov and others.

22. Photos from Andre Mazon's book
• The central photo
shows Bai Ilia
mother Naumka
Koneshka and her
sister.
• Raki Tavtsa, who
was killed during
World War II, was
also filmed.
• The other photos
are of women from
the village - the day
of Rositsa / the
third day of Easter

23. On the way to Drenovo
• According to the
information of By Ilia
we went to Drenovo
- a village
neighboring to
Boboshtitsa, which
is known to have
also been inhabited
by Bulgarians in the
past. On the way to
Drenovo

24. Drenovo - church and town hall

25. The new church in Drenovo
• At present, there are people
living in Drenovo who identify
themselves as Vlachs or
Albanians.
• Most people speak both
languages. According to
Dimitar Belo, the Bulgarians
from this village, after the
Turks came, moved massively
to Wallachia, where they also
learned the language.
• After the First World War, they
returned massively again, but
with another consciousness.
• They practice Eastern
Orthodoxy and after 1990 a
large new church was built in
the village, which we were
able to see and photograph
inside.
• High above the village is a 10-
meter Orthodox cross. The
village is relatively rich and
lively. It has a school that is
active and mayoralty ..

26. On the way to Mala Prespa
• Until the 1990s, the area was in a border
area completely isolated from Korca.
• The road to the villages near the lake
was built in 1897/98 by the Italians -
according to Dimitar Bello.
• This is the only road connecting the
Prespa Lake villages to the world. The
road is asphalt, relatively well
preserved, but very steep and with many
turns.
• On the steep road to Mala Prespa, our
leader Dimitar Belo showed us the
village that was supposed to be the
town of Devol.
• The distance to Korca is about 30
kilometers, but it travels slowly - about
an hour.
• All the way around the lake is littered
with bunkers.

27. Small Town Islan
The first
thing you
can see
from the
high part of
the road is
Prespa
Lake and
the island
in it.

28. Little Prespa
• Mala Prespa District is
located on the Albanian
coast of Prespa Lake.
• There are nine villages in
which about 10,000
people live - Leska,
Shule, Pustets, Zerno,
Staro selo, Golombocchi,
Prespanci, Krushevitsa
and Likenas.
• They speak a Bulgarian
dialect, so we did not
have any language
barriers.
• The people of these
villages are Eastern
Orthodox Christians, and
each village bears both
Slavic and Albanian
names.

29. Photos from Pustets - the central village in the Mala
Prespa area

30. The hospital and one of the chapels in Pustec

31. Meeting with Sotir Mitre
• We were especially pleased to
meet Sotir Mitre, who is the
chairman of the local section of
the Bulgarian Cultural and
Educational Society "Ivan
Vazov" with the center of
Tirana.
• He has a degree in agronomy
and lives and works in Pustets.
He told us fascinatingly about
the history of Mala Prespa and
the life of the people from the
Bulgarian villages.
• He boasted that for several
years he organized summer
Bulgarian schools in the
surrounding villages and was
awarded the Order of Father
Paisii Hilendarski for his work by
the Bulgarian Ministry of
Education.
• Sotir is convinced that all the
villages in the Prespa Lake area
are inhabited by people of
Bulgarian origin.

32. In Pustets village we enrolled 18 people who told us about their lives
here. They were extremely kind and cordial and willingly communicated with
us. Most of us were surprised that we are Bulgarian, but we speak Macedonian
well. It turned out that we were the first Bulgarians to see them, so we were
inquiring about Bulgaria with curiosity. They told us that in the villages the
people are Macedonian and that is why Macedonia helps them. They also have a
Prespa organization that has received donations from Bitola.
To the question "Are there Bulgarians here?" - they answered
that there are, but there are fewer and their children go to study in
Bulgaria.
People said that everyone here built the house himself. They
make their own roofs, doors and windows. Usually three generations
live in the same house - the grandparents, the youngest son, the
daughter-in-law and their children. Young families in most cases have
two or three children.

33. One of the pubs and shops in Pustets
• There are several
private shops and
pubs in the village.
The shops are run
by women and the
pubs by men.
• There is a hospital
and maternity
hospital since 1963.
• The town hall is in
the center of the
village near the
school.
• A new church is also
under construction,
but the money has
not come and the
construction is
frozen.

34. Pustets
• One-storey and flat houses predominate. They were built
erratically, with no architectural plans.
• Around each house there is a yard in which farm buildings for
animals are additionally built. Vegetables are mostly grown in the
yards. There are also fruit trees. Few houses are two-story and
plastered - usually with people close to them working in Greece or
Macedonia. In none of the villages there are asphalted streets and
sewerage, but in all there is electricity. The streets during the rain
are muddy and unsupported.

35. Pustets Primary School
• We also visited the school,
which is a relatively large two-
storey building.
• We were met there by the
director, who was so kind as
to take us out of it to shoot. He
told us: “… until 1920 the
school education was in Greek
as well as all over Albania, and
since 1945 it has been taught
in Macedonian until 4th grade,
and after 4th grade it is in
Albanian, with second
language - Macedonian. Now
after graduation, some of the
students go on to continue
their education in Korca.
There are two teachers in the
elementary course and one in
the kindergarten. Kids are now
down because parents go to
work. More and more young
people are leaving the village
and older people are staying
in it. ”

36. The Macedonian reader and a board from the school
• t the school, we were most
impressed by the corridors,
which were filled with
signboards to stimulate and
fight for "pure Macedonian
language".
• We also shot a sixth grade
booklet, which is in
Macedonian, but most of
the texts are from Albanian
authors or are folklore
material. It was published in
Macedonia in 2000. by the
Ministry of Education of the
Republic of Macedonia and
with the approval of the
Ministry of Education and
Science of Albania.

37. The Lake and the Surroundings of Pustets
• The people of Pustec also
shared with us that
unemployment is high and
few people are in state
employment.
• Their main livelihood is
agriculture, cattle breeding
and fishing.
• More often, women and
children work in the fields,
and men graze the cattle,
mow and collect hay for the
winter.
• Many animals are raised -
cows, cattle, goats. The
donkey is of particular
respect in the area as it is
also a major means of
transportation. There is no
house without cows and
animals and almost every
household has a boat used
by men to fish in the lake.

38. Small Town Island
• We visited on the water and
the deserted island in Prespa
Lake, on which is preserved,
though in poor condition, the
medieval church "St. Peter
and Paul. "
• This boat trip proved to be a
difficult task as permission
was sought and a fee was
charged to the border
authorities. Only the name of
our leader - Sotir Mitre -
allowed us to make this
journey.
• People from the villages call
it the island of Mali city or
Mali market, but rarely go to it
because of the many water
snakes that inhabit it. We
were able to shoot the whole
island and the church “St.
Peter and Pavel. "

39. The Church of St. Peter and Paul ”- on the island
• According to our leader
Sotir Mitre, the church
was built in the 8th
century, but in the
literature the construction
is dated to the 14th
century.
• The church building itself
is small, as if nestled in a
large cave that hides it
from outside views. There
is a mystery and silence
around her, broken only
by the noise of the lake
and the lone shrieks of the
lake birds.
• The front of the church is
richly decorated with
murals, most of which are
in poor condition. The
central figure is of the
Virgin Mary, and our
leaders have pointed out
to us that all figures are
pointing their hands at
her.

40. Fragments of murals on the front of the church
Most of the saints painted have their eyes peeled and,
according to Bai Sotir, this sin was committed by the
Turks.

41. Fragments of murals

42. Part of the church - inside
With a lot of
effort we
were able to
take some
pictures
inside the
window.

43. Instead of finals
With sadness
we left the beautiful
lonely island, as
people who feel
Bulgarians sadly
stated that "Bulgaria
does nothing for
them and they are
isolated from
everywhere".