IBSCT - Branch Montana, Bulgaria

Address: 6, Aleksandar Stamboliyski Blvd., Montana, Bulgaria

The branch was founded in 2018.

Director: Prof. Alexandre Kostov, Dr. habil., Corresponding Member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Main research areas: Socio-economic and cultural development of Northwestern Bulgaria from Antiquity to the present day

Conference "The Bulgarian Northwest in the European Southeast through the Ages" organized by the branch of the IBSCT-BAS and the Regional Academic Center in Montana

On June 6, 2025, the conference "The Bulgarian Northwest in the European Southeast through the Ages" was held in the city of Montana, organized by the branch of the IBSCT-BAS and the Regional Academic Center in Montana (RAC - Montana) in partnership with the Municipality of Montana and the Regional Historical Museum (RHM).

The forum was opened by Prof. Alexandre Kostov, Dr. habil. (IBSCT-BAS), Corresponding Member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Participants were welcomed by the Mayor of the city, Mr. Zlatko Zhivkov, followed by greetings from the coordinator of the RAC - Montana, Eng. Valeri Georgiev, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vanya Ivanova, Director of RHM - Montana.

The conference, which is held every year, is the seventh in a row. It brought together researchers from institutes of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and historians from the region. One of the topics discussed was related to the migration processes in the Bulgarian Northwest in the past and today. For example, the paper by Prof. Raia Zaimova, Dr. habil. and Assist. Prof. Dr. Margarita Dobreva (IBSCT-BAS) introduced the audience to the Hungarian emigration to Vidin according to documents stored in the Ottoman archives in Istanbul (1849-1850). The presentation by Vladimir Paunovski (IBSCT-BAS) was dedicated to “The Jews from Vidin as migrants in the 16th–18th centuries”. Nelly Stoyanova (RHM - Vratsa) spoke about the migration waves in the Bulgarian Northwest during the Revival period.

Most of the other papers were delivered by collaborators of the historical museums of the region and referred to different aspects of the general topic in a wide chronological range. In her presentation, Dr. Evgeniya Naydenova (IM - Oryahovo) presented a prehistoric settlement near the village of Ostrov, Oryahovo municipality, as a contact zone between the late Neolithic societies on both sides of the Danube River. The report by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vanya Ivanova, dedicated to theapplication of innovative practices from the field of new museology in the contemporary development of the Regional Historical Museum - Montanaalso aroused interest. Other representatives of RHM - Montana also participated with papers, such as Marius Georgiev presentingthe main moments of the Bulgarian-Yugoslav and Bulgarian-Serbian border festivals before and after the Second World War, and Daniel Yordanov –the awards at the Regional Historical Museum - Montana.

Along with the historians, the participating literary scholars also gave interesting and useful papers. Prof. Dr. Plamen Antov (Institute of Literature at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences) spoke aboutthe “Small Fatherland” in the lyrics of Ivan Davidkov: places and nostalgia, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lyudmila Mindova (IBSCT-BAS) on “Europe and Bulgaria in the Contemporary Poetry of the Bulgarian Northwest”, and Dr. Mitko Novkov (BNR-Program “Hristo Botev”) presented his paper “The Different Spaces of the Northwest Compared to the Southeast of Europe”.

An extremely interesting report was delivered by Acad. Yachko Ivanov (BAS), who presentedthe development of higher education in the Northwest through a number of projects and implementations after 1989.

Presented papers, as well as the discussions that followed, not only aroused the interest of the local audience, but reconfirmed the contribution to scholarly research in the region of the already traditional joint conferences between the Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology “Prof. Alexander Fol”, the Regional Academic Center - Montana and RHM - Montana. The scholarly forum is yet another proof of the successful cooperation, which we hope to continue in the future.

Scholarly conference "Bulgarian Northwest in scholarly research and fiction"

On June 25, 2024, a scholarly conference "Bulgarian Northwest in scholarly research and fiction" was held in the Exhibition Hall of the Regional Historical Museum in the city of Montana (RHM - Montana). The forum was organized by the Branch of the Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Tracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IBSCT-BAS). Co-organizers were the Municipality of Montana and RHM - Montana. Scholarly Coordinator of the event was Prof. D.Sc. Alexandre Kostov, Corresponding Member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Head of the Branch in Montana. A day earlier, at a solemn session of the Municipal Council, Prof. Kostov was awarded the Badge of Honor of the city of Montana.

A total of 15 people took part in the conference, including well-known scholars and experts: Acad. Yachko Ivanov, Acad. Ivan Zagorchev, Acad. Vladimir Zarev, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vanya Ivanova, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lyudmila Mindova, together with museum specialists and local historians from the city of Montana.

The event was attended by prominent personalities such as Prof. Dr. Borislav Velikov, Mayor of the city of Montana, Mr. Zlatko Zhivkov, and Mr. Ivo Ivanov, Chairman of the Municipal Council in Montana.

The scholarly forum was opened by Prof. Alexandre Kostov with a presentation of the collection "The Bulgarian Northwest - Education and Culture", which is the result of last year's conference, organized by the Branch of the IBSCT-BAS in the city of Montana.

During the event, Prof. Kostov stated: "For the Northwest to develop and move forward, it is necessary to know its history. The IBSCT-BAS team in the city of Montana has taken up the detailed research and promotion of this history. At the moment, the branch of IBSCT-BAS is the only research center in the region and receives the support of the Municipality of Montana. The conference is the sixth in a row and all papers will be issued in a collective volume, just as the previous five scholarly conferences", specified Prof. Kostov.

Scholarly conference "The Bulgarian Northwest: Education and Culture" held in the city of Montana, Bulgaria 

On June 2, 2023, a conference was held in Montana, Bulgaria organized under the scholarly leadership of the Institute of Balkan Studies and Centre of Tracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IBSCT-BAS) Branch in the city, which was established 5 years ago. Co-organizers of the conference are the Municipality of Montana, the Regional Academic Center of the BAS - Montana and the Regional Historical Museum - Montana.

The topic of this year's forum is: "The Bulgarian Northwest: Education and Culture". It is dedicated to the anniversary of the founding of the National Community Center "Razum 1883" in the former Golyama Kutlovitsa (now Montana). 21 researchers from institutes of the BAS and cultural institutions from the region - Montana, Vidin, Oryahovo, Chiprovtsi, Beogradchik and Georgi Damyanovo - participated in the conference. Their reports and discussions examined the main aspects of the creation, development and activity of educational and cultural institutions in Northwestern Bulgaria during the last two centuries.

The participants in the conference were greeted by the coordinator of Regional Academic Center - Montana, Mr. Valeri Georgiev, the head of the IBSCT-BAS Branch in Montana, Prof. Alexandre Kostov, Dr. habil., Corresponding Member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Mayor of the Municipality of Montana Mr. Zlatko Zhivkov, the member of the board of the BAS and Chairman of the 39th National Assembly Assoc. Prof. Borislav Velikov.

The conference is part of the festive program on the occasion of the celebration in the city of Montana "Holy Spirit". The event was met with great interest by the public in the city and was widely covered in the central and local media.

Publications of the IBSCT branch in Montana, Bulgaria:

Kostov, Al. (compl.) The Bulgarian Northwest in Scientific Research and Literature. Sofia, Tendril Publishing House, 2025, 218 p. ISBN 978-619-7812-00-8.

The collection "The Bulgarian Northwest in Scientific Research and Literature" is the sixth publication in a row of proceedings from the annual conferences organized by the IBSCT-BAS Branch in the city of Montana (Bulgaria) focusing on Northwest Bulgaria. The volume dedicated to scholarly research and literature includes ten articles by researchers from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Regional History Museum in Montana, the State Archives - Montana, the New Bulgarian University and the University of Forestry. For another year, scholarly works by doctoral students and academics, research presenting unpublished archival material and analyses of the cultural achievements of significant figures from the Northwest have been collected in one place.

The collection "The Bulgarian Northwest in Scientific Research and Literature" follows the tradition of popularizing the history of Northwest Bulgaria by not only introducing unknown or little-known archival materials into scholarly parlance, but also revealing the cultural wealth of the region. The presented collection of publications includes texts written by four academics, which is a clear sign for the importance that the series on the Bulgarian Northwest has acquired in recent years. This sixth volume also clearly shows the growth of young researchers who have been given the opportunity to publish their scholarly works in the last years.

Kostov, Al. (compl.) The Bulgarian Northwest: Education and Culture. Sofia, Tendril Publishing House, 2024.

On June 25, 2024, the collective volume "The Bulgarian Northwest: Education and Culture" was presented in the city of Montana. This is the fifth volume in a row, in which one can familiarize yourself with the history of Northwest Bulgaria, presented through the publications of researchers from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Regional History Museum - Montana, State Archives - Montana, Historical Museum - Oryahovo. The annual conferences and the subsequent edition for Northwest Bulgaria are carried out under the leadership of Prof. D.Sc. Alexandre Kostov, Corresponding Member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Director of the IBSCT-BAS branch in Montana.

Kostov, Al. (compl.) The Bulgarian Northwest: Past and present. Sofia, Tendril Publishing House, 2022, 400 p.

On December 2, 2022, in the Exhibition Hall of the Regional History Museum in the city of Montana, as compiler and editor, Prof. Alexandre Kostov, PhD, Corresponding Member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, presented the latest book The Bulgarian Northwest: Past and present (Sofia, Tendril, 2022, 400 p.). The book is the fourth edition of the branch of the Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Tracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IBSCT-BAS) opened in 2018. The edition includes results of studies presented during scholarly conference held on June 10, 2022. The event was organized by the branch of the IBSCT-BAS and the Regional Centre at the BAS in cooperation with the Municipality, the Regional History Museum and the State Archives - Montana. The new book includes 23 articles about the history of the Northwest from Antiquity to the beginning of the 21st century, with scholarly contributions in the fields of history, archaeology, literary studies, ethnology and anthropology. The authors are researchers affiliated with the BAS as well as with archives, museums and other institutions in Northwestern Bulgaria - in Montana, Vidin, Vratsa and Lom. The event was attended by representatives of local cultural institutions. The Mayor of the Municipality of Montana Mr. Zlatko Zhivkov and Assoc. Prof. Vanya Ivanova, Director of the Regional History Museum, PhD, welcomed the attendees. 

Kostov, Al. (compl.) Montana: a modern city of 130 years. Sofia, Tendril Publishing House, 2021. ISBN 978-619-91496-6-9

The book is dedicated to the 130th anniversary of the proclamation of the village (Golyama) Kutlovitsa as a town named after the Bulgarian prince Ferdinand. Thus begins a new stage in the history of the place, formed in Antiquity. Its development over the past thirteen decades has undergone major socio-economic and political transformations. Perhaps, the proof of these frequent and profound changes during this period is the change of its name - from Kutlovitsa to Ferdinand (1891) and Mihaylovgrad (1945) to reach today's - Montana (since 1993), reminiscent of the ancient past of this settlement.

This collective volume is the third consecutive edition of the branch of the Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology (IBSCT) - BAS in Montana. It includes ten papers and articles examining a number of important aspects of the city's development over the past 130 years. It is the result of a successful cooperation between IBSCT and the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences with local institutions such as the Regional History Museum (RHM) and the State Archives (SA) in Montana through the participation of their collaborators as authors in the publication.

The initiative came from the IBSCT's branch in the city and is supported by Mr. Zlatko Zhivkov, Mayor of Montana and the Regional Academic Center coordinated by Mr. Valeri Georgiev. The book is published with the financial support of Assoc. Prof. Borislav Velikov, PhD - Chairman of the 39th National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria and a member of the Board of Trustees of BAS.

Kostov, Al. (compl.) The Northwest Bulgaria in Europe - history and culture.
Sofia, Tendril Publishing House, 2019. ISBN 978-954-92809-8-2

The collective volume includes ten contributions by researchers from the IBSCT-BAS, the Regional History Museum (RIM) and the State Archives (DA) in Montana. The articles reveal the cultural, social, economic and technological wealth of the city of Montana and the region, starting with the treasure from Yakimovo and reaching the traditions of preserving the cultural heritage today.

Contents

Kostov, Al. (compl.) Bulgarian Northwest: Transport, Communications and People from Antiquity to the Present Day. Sofia, Tendril Publishing House, 2020. ISBN 978-619-91496-2-1

The book is dedicated to the history and present of this region. It includes ten articles written by researchers from the IBSCT-BAS, the Regional History Museum (RIM) and the State Archives (DA) in Montana. The collective volume presents important issues about the development of the region, related to the construction and use of land roads (roadways and railways) and the first telecommunications, following the example of the telegraph. It also investigates the role of the Danube as an important international artery, and last but not least it studies the influence of different communication opportunities on the lives of people from the region from Antiquity to the present day.

The activity of the branch of IBSCT in the city of Montana as well as the preparation of this collective volume has been supported by Mr. Zlatko Zhivkov, Mayor of Montana, by RIM - Montana, DA - Montana, and the Regional Academic Center (RAC) - Montana. The publication became possible thanks to the financial support of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Borislav Velikov - Chairman of the 39th National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

Contents