Who was Gavril Katsarov?

He was a Bulgarian historian, classical philologist and archaeologist, born in Koprivshtitsa on 4 October 1874 (Old Style). He was rector of Sofia University in 1927 and 1928, directed the National Archaeological Museum and the Bulgarian Archaeological Institute, and is regarded as a founding figure of Bulgarian Thracology.

What is the Madzharovo memorial around 4 October?

It commemorates more than 1,800 Thracian refugees who died crossing the river Arda at Madzharovo on 4 October 1913. Each year, on the last Saturday before 4 October, the municipality and a union of Thracian societies hold a memorial gathering with a requiem service. In 2026 that Saturday is 3 October.

Where can I read Katsarov in English?

His chapter on Thrace is in volume VIII of the Cambridge Ancient History, published by Cambridge University Press in 1930, on pages 534 to 560. It is listed under the spelling Katzarow, so use that in library catalogues.

On This Day in Bulgaria: Gavril Katsarov, founder of Bulgarian Thracology (4 October), Shumen.UK

📅 ON THIS DAY IN BULGARIA, Sunday 4 October

Bulgaria is currently rather proud of its Thracians. The professor credited with Sofia University's first course on them was born on this day and, refreshingly, was not taken in by the romance.

What happened on this day

Gavril Katsarov was born in Koprivshtitsa on 4 October 1874 (Old Style), the son of a priest, Iliya Katsarov. When the April Uprising broke out in the town on 20 April 1876, Iliya was among the priests who swore the rebels in, and Gavril was not yet two. Iliya was one of the few to survive Ottoman custody afterwards, and among his sons were Gavril, the professor, and Dimitar, who became a major-general.

Gavril took a doctorate in classical philology and ancient history at Leipzig in 1899, studied on in Berlin, Munich and Italy, and became a fixture of Sofia University: chair of ancient history from 1910 to 1943, dean of the historical and philological faculty, and rector in 1927 and 1928 (roughly a vice-chancellor). He directed the National Archaeological Museum and the Bulgarian Archaeological Institute, which he helped found in 1920, and wrote a 1926 essay, Bulgaria in Antiquity. But Thrace is why he is remembered. Bulgarian Wikipedia calls him a founding figure of Bulgarian Thracology, credits him with the university's first course on the Thracians, in the 1920s, and says that, unlike later writers, he would not idealise them and stressed how fleeting their states were. In 1930 the Cambridge Ancient History printed his chapter on Thrace, under the spelling Katzarow.

Madzharovo remembers

Thrace runs through 4 October a second time, and far more sadly. On this date in 1913, at what was then the village of Yatadzhik and is now Madzharovo, a march of Bulgarian refugees from Aegean Thrace ended at the river Arda. Pursued by irregulars, more than 1,800 civilians, mostly women, children and old people, died there, though the detachments of Dimitar Madzharov and Rusi Slavov got most of the column across. The town has carried Madzharov's name since 1959.

Every year, on the last Saturday before 4 October (3 October in 2026), the municipality and a union of Thracian societies hold a memorial gathering, a събор (sa-BOR), with a панихида (pa-nee-HEE-da), a requiem service. Our funerals guide covers how Bulgarians mark memorial dates. It is a commemoration, not a fair. Near the site stands a small memorial park with a chapel and an ossuary monument, the Thracian Pantheon. Outside the anniversary, Madzharovo is Bulgaria's second-smallest town after Melnik, with 480 people at the end of 2025, and its Eastern Rhodopes conservation centre, part of the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (think RSPB), houses an interactive exhibition on vultures.

Why this matters for British expats

Three small things travel. First, if you go looking for Katsarov in English, try Katzarow, the spelling Cambridge used; his name has also reached print as Gawril and Kazarov, so search every variant. Second, Koprivshtitsa is known for its authentic Revival-period architecture, and the reprisals that followed the 1876 uprising became a British political issue: the Daily News reported them, and on 6 September 1876 Gladstone published Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East, attacking the Disraeli government over its indifference. Third, if you live in Shumen, Bulgarian Wikipedia lists the city among the places with large Ottoman garrisons where the uprising could not break out, which makes for our local footnote to a story that began a long way west.

Sources and further reading

Bulgarian Wikipedia's entry on Gavril Katsarov has the career, the bibliography and the honours, while its pages on Iliya Katsarov, Koprivshtitsa and Madzharovo fill in the family, the town and the 1913 crossing. English Wikipedia's account of the April Uprising covers the British reaction, from the Daily News to Gladstone's pamphlet.