Gugov's House in the village of Petrich, Zlatitsa Municipality, is the restored home of the chairman of the revolutionary committee in the village, Neno Lulchov Gugov - a Bulgarian merchant, public figure, revolutionary, one of the active organizers and participants in the April Uprising of 1876 and a representative of the village in the Oborishte Assembly.
Gugov's house is located in the center of the village at the western end of "20th April" Square.
During the events of the April Epic, the entire property, down to the last stake of the champion, was destroyed by the Turks, who totally plowed, looted, and burned down the rebellious settlement, which categorically and fearlessly declared Freedom or Death.
This is also the reason why, after his return from exile, Neno Lulchov Gugov settled with his family in the town of Zlatitsa, where he was elected the first mayor of the town after the Liberation, as well as a deputy in the First Great National Assembly in 1879.
The grateful Petritsch residents built a new house on the foundations of his burned-down home, making some improvements to its architecture and interior design.
Who is Neno Lulchev Gugov?
On February 12, 1876, Voivode Georgi Benkovski arrived at Gugov's house. Under his leadership, the local revolutionary committee was founded, which included Neno's brother, Manyu, together with his sons Lulcho and Delcho, priest Hristosko Rakov, the village mayor Mito Stoyanov, assistant mayor Stoyan Ganchov, Stoyan Dankov, Kosta Balov and others. Neno Gugov himself was elected chairman of the committee.
In the first days of March, in the church "St. George the Victorious", which is located next to the Gugovata house, the second oath of the rebels was taken in the village, at which Neno declared:
Whoever doesn't have a rifle should sell his ox and buy a rifle!
On Benkovski's orders, on the same days, Neno, his nephew Lulcho, and another member of the revolutionary committee, Filip Svinarov, toured nearby villages to agitate for the uprising.
In mid-April, Neno Gugov was sent as a delegate from the village of Petrich to the Oborishte assembly. Due to the delay of Benkovski, who was still in Panagyurishte at that time, Neno, together with a guard, was sent to bring him.
After the assembly began, Neno was elected one of the members of the special commission for developing the plan of the uprising, which was to be authorized to discuss all important issues maturely and to communicate the adopted decision in writing to all committees, which were to be obliged to accept the decisions of the Commission without opposition.
His nephew Lulcho had earlier been sent to Wallachia together with Marin Shishkov to purchase weapons. Upon their return, the two brought a letter from the Vratsa apostle, Stoyan Zaimov, in which he suggested that the uprising not be declared before May 21, due to difficulties in supplying weapons, to which letter Benkovski replied:
I will raise the uprising with my Mechene, Petričane, Muhovtsi and Beličane, and let Zaimov wait in his district, if he wants, until the Day of the Cross.
These events were described by Nikola Belovezhdov in his "Notes on the Koprivshtna Uprising in 1876" precisely based on the memories of Neno Gugov.
Neno was also one of the people who subsequently investigated the betrayal of the uprising, committed by Nenko Terziyski from the village of Baldevo.
It was probably under Neno's command that the first combat shot with a cherry cannon was fired. In his "Notes on the Bulgarian Uprisings", Zahari Stoyanov describes how on the night of April 24, Benkovski ordered Gugov to move one of the local cherry cannons to a suitable location above the Zlatitsa Field, where a Turkish army had been stationed that day, and from there to release several cannonballs, which would greatly disturb both the army and the nearby Turkish villages. According to Stoyanov, this undertaking was successful and the morning after the shot was fired - either because of the shot itself or for other reasons - the army had moved out. However, the historian Georgi Tahov disputes this description, claiming that the cannonball actually exploded upon firing.
With the defeat of the April Uprising, Neno Gugov was captured in the village of Mechka (today Oborishte) and brought before the Turkish bey in Zlatitsa. Neno takes full responsibility for the rebellion in the village, stating:
Pasha Effendi, do not torment the common people, because we are the most guilty, together with my nephew Lulcho M. Gugov. I have awakened this people, kill us, hang us, it is I.
For his participation in the uprising, he was sentenced to exile and sent to the island of Rhodes. A street in Zlatitsa was named after him. The great-grandson of his brother Manyu is the writer with the literary pseudonym Pavel Vezhinov (name Nikola Delchov Gugov).
Over the years, Gugov's House was a public building, and on the first floor, facing the river, there was a café. For a long time, it housed the Petrich City Hall.
In the period 2014-2015, under a European project, the building was restored and a museum collection with exhibits and furnishings was set up in it - modern replicas of objects typical of the village from the 1920s and 1930s.
On the south side of the facade of the Gugov's house is a marble slab with the inscription:
Here is the birthplace of the April Uprising supporter Neno Lulchov Gugov, who lived in the period 1847-1912, chairman of the revolutionary committee in the village.
Representative in Oborishte.
Exiled to Diyarbakir.
How to get to the village of Petrich, Zlatitsa municipality?
Petrich is a village in Western Bulgaria, Sofia Region, Zlatitsa Municipality.
It is located in a mountainous area on the border between Sashtina and Ihtiman Sredna Gora.
Part of the village is the Bodyat neighborhood, located a few kilometers from it. In the past, there were many more neighborhoods - Belega, Angelovi Koshari, Varlina, Chebara, Fartunite and others.
The Topolnitsa River flows through the village and four smaller rivers flow into it – Mirkovska, Smolska, Kamenishka and Gugov dol.
It is assumed that this proverb gives the name to the village.
Petrich is located:
66 kilometers (about 1 hour and 02 minutes by car) from the capital
106 kilometers (about 1 hour and 38 minutes by car) from the city of Plovdiv
435 kilometers (about 5 hours and 15 minutes by car) from the city of Varna
344 kilometers (about 3 hours and 34 minutes by car) from the city of Burgas
30 kilometers (about 30 minutes by car) from the city of Panagyurishte
How to get to Gugovata Kashta in the village of Petrich?
Gugova House is located in the center of the village, as shown on the map below.
It is located between the banks of the Topolnitsa and Gugov Dol rivers, near the small single-arch bridge and opposite the old double-arch bridge.
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