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The old Practical Fishing School
Sep. 24, 2022
On February 29, 1924, the 11th Ordinary National Assembly voted to establish a "Practical Fishing School" for which BGN 5,000,000 was allocated, with the possibility of additional funding. After a study, a special committee proposed that a school building be built on the island of St. Kyrikos (Father St. St. Kyrik and Yulita), and the Sozopol municipality considers this election particularly successful and gives the place free of charge.
On April 5, 1925, with a special ceremony, the foundations of the future building were laid. On a warm spring day, the port of the small seaside town is black with people. Citizens of Sozopol are eagerly waiting to see how Tsar Boris III will arrive to take part in the solemn consecration of the future school. The special charter with the signatures of the king and other responsible officials was added in a metal capsule and built into the foundation of the building under construction. (A copy of the certificate is still kept in the municipal archives).
The school opened its doors for its first graduating class in 1930, accepting young people between the ages of 15-20 with a completed junior high school education, mostly orphans or sons of poor fishing families. Their boarding and education is completely free.
Tsar Boris III in Sozopol. Photo: Museum Center Sozopol
Four years later, the school was forced to close its doors due to "insufficient fish resources in the Black Sea". But his building was not orphaned - it first housed the Naval School from Varna (1934-1940), and later it was known to the navy.
Some historians claim that the school functioned as a naval school since its inception. Due to the sanctions imposed by the Treaty of Neuilly and the reduction of the functions of our navy to coastal and police, the school where future sailors were trained was called a "fishery" to mislead the enemy.
After 1945, the island became a military zone, and the building was known to the Ministry of War.
Since 2010 The island is managed by the Ministry of Culture, with ambitious plans to turn it into an island of arts, and the French Louvre is also involved in the project, with expertise and financial investment. An idea that remains only on paper for now...
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