Jurdan Popov

Jurdan Milanow Popow (also written Yurdan Milanov Popov , Bulgarian Юрдан Миланов Попов ; born December 26, 1867 in Elena , today in Bulgaria ; † February 8, 1932 in Sofia ) was a Bulgarian-Austrian architect.

Life

Judan Popov was born in Elena, a town in the Balkan Mountains . His father Milan Popov was in Elena, which was a cultural center of the Bulgarian Revival , a businessman and teacher at the local class school founded by Ivan Momchilow , father of the architect Petko Momchilow . After graduating from elementary school, Judan was sent to nearby Gabrovo in 1884 , where he graduated from the elite Aprilow grammar school with honors in 1885 . Between 1886 and 1893 Jurdan studied architecture at the Technical University in Vienna as a scholarship holder of the Bulgarian Ministry of Education. In Vienna he studied together with Christo Kowatschewski and in 1892 took in Georgi Fingow , who had traveled to Vienna . As a student, Popow worked in the office of his professor and well-known Austrian architect Karl König . The last year of his studies Jurdan Popow is assistant at the chair for architecture of antiquity and the renaissance with Karl König.

After completing his studies, Popov returned to Bulgaria, where he worked until 1921 as an employee of the Ministry of Public Works, Roads and Town Planning in the Bulgarian capital Sofia. In this function, he worked with the architects G. Nenow and Petko Momchilow to draft the law for planning localities in Bulgaria . Between 1893 and 1896 Popow was initially an inspector for urban planning and from 1896 to 1906 deputy head of department and from 1906 head of the department for architecture at the ministry. Between 1894 and 1895 Popow directed the construction of the hospital "Evlogi and Hristo Georgievi" (also known as The Bulgarian Hospital) in Istanbul . Together with Momchilow, Popov led the renovation of the Black Kodscha Dervish Mosque by the Ottoman master architect Mimar Sinan in Sofia and its adaptation to the Sweti Sedmochislenizi Church between 1899 and 1903 .

In 1900 Popov headed the Bulgarian pavilion at the World Exhibition in Paris . From 1896 he was a member and from 1912 chairman of the committee for the construction of the Alexander Nevsky Memorial Church in Sofia. In the last two years before his retirement in 1921, Popov was chief inspector for architecture in the relevant ministry.

After his retirement, Popow became director of the ceramic company “Struma”. In the following time he was involved with the architect Georgi Fingow in the construction of the buildings of the civil service insurance company, the Bulgarian commercial bank and the Phönix-Palace (Phönix Versicherung). He also revised the design of the architects A. Breancone and N. Lazarow and drew the implementation plans for the rectorate of Sofia University . Between 1922 and 1923 Popov was chief architect of the "Evlogi and Hristo Georgievi" foundation for the construction of the University of Sofia and from 1924 he was in charge of the construction of the rectorate.

Jurdan Popov died on February 8, 1932 after catching a cold on the building site of the rectorate. He bequeathed his fortune to the Bulgarian state.

Famous works

Main entrance to Sofia University

• Central Post and Telegraph Office (1893) in Sofia
• Boys' grammar school (1893–1898) in Russe
• Girls high school with boarding house (1893–1898, today Archaeological Museum ) in Varna
• Bulgarian Hospital “Evlogi and Hristo Georgievi” (1893–1905) in Istanbul
• Administration building and clinics of the Alexandrov Hospital (1895–1900, with Petko Momchilow ) in Sofia
• Power plant of the Princely Castle, Sofia
• Maternity home “Maitschin dom” (1898–1914, supported by Momchilow), Sofia
• Sveti Sedmochislenizi Church (1899–1903, remodeling and adaptation of the "black" Kodscha Dervish mosque by Mimar Sinan with Momchilov)
• Building of the Holy Synod (1904–1912) in Sofia
• Main building of St. Kliment Ohridski University Sofia

literature

• Grigor Doytchinov, Christo Gantchev: Austrian architects in Bulgaria. 1878-1918. Böhlau, ao Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-205-99343-8 , p. 160 ff.

Web links

• Biography of Jurdan Popov (bulg.)