This year marks the 170th anniversary of the birth of Eng. Georgi Prošek.
Georgi Prošek was a remarkable person, a builder, an economic and cultural activist, a socially active person, founder of the modern brewing in Bulgaria.
Born on December 25, 1847 in the city of Beroun, Czech Republic. After graduating from his Higher education studies, the young engineer set off for Bulgaria, which he also chose to be his second home.
His name, the name of his younger brother Bogdan, as well as that of the Prošek family are forever connected with the development and history of Bulgaria:
•The first metropolitan printing house 1879, later named „Court printing house“
• The Prošek brothers court brewery 1884 – this was also the first electrified building in Bulgaria.
• The National Assembly 1886
• The Central Railway Station Sofia 1888
•Lions’ Bridge 1889• Eagles’ Bridge 1891
• The Monument to Vasil Levski 1895
• The “St. Francis of Assisi“ Catholic church 1899
•The Port of Varna 1906
• The first city plan of Sofia, later named Battenberg’s plan
• The Bulgarian Engineering and Architectural Organization (Bulgarian: „БИАД”)
• The “Sokol” (Bulgarian: „Соколъ”) hunting society
• The „Czech„ society
• Slavyanska beseda /Slavic Talk/ (Bulgarian: Славянска беседа) – 1880
• The „T.G.Masaryk„ Czechoslovak club
• The first shorthand writer at the National Assembly
• The first international secret revolutionary committee in the village of Yabalkovo, Haskovo Province
• The “Slavic House” in the village of Yabalkovo, where he met with Vasil Levski and assisted him in his revolutionary activities
• He took part in the decisive battle at Mount Shipka.
From his compatriot and friend Dr. Nadherny (Hekim Pasha) – head of the health service in the Turkish army in Istanbul, Georgi Prošek became aware of the plans of the Turkish Command to reinforce the troops around Mount Shipka with new units, consisting of heavy artillery. Eng. Prošek, along with some devoted friends, risking their lives, dismantled around 200 m. of railway track and threw them into the Maritsa River, delaying in this way the Turkish troop trains for around 30 hours. These actions of his turned out to be extremely important for the outcome of the battle. The action was discovered by the Turkish authorities and Jiří Prošek was sentenced to death by the Sultan. Disguised as a peasant, he managed to escape to Bucharest, where he worked as an interpreter for the Russians until the Liberation. For his exceptional selflessness and contribution to the Liberation of bulgaria, Eng. Georgi Prošek was awarded with the high distinctions – an Order of “Saint Alexander Nevsky” I grade and a golden sabre which was personally handed to him by Gen. Mikhail Skobelev on behalf of Emperor Alexander II.
Written by Прошек
