Nikola Fichev (1800-1881), commonly known as Kolyu Ficheto , was a Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

n National Revival

Bulgarian National Revival

The Bulgarian National Revival , sometimes called the Bulgarian Renaissance, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian people under Ottoman rule...

 architect, builder and sculptor born in Dryanovo

Dryanovo

The town of Dryanovo is situated at the northern foot of the Balkan Mountains in Gabrovo Province, Bulgaria, amphitheatrically along the two banks of Dryanovo River, a tributary to the Yantra River. The town is a centre of the homonymous Dryanovo Municipality, which is composed of 62 villages,...

 in 1800.

Left an orphan without a father at the age of three, Kolyu Ficheto was taught craftsmanship by the masterhands in the Tryavna

Tryavna

Tryavna is a town in central Bulgaria, situated in the north slopes of the Balkan range, on the Tryavna river valley, near Gabrovo. It is famous for its textile industry and typical National Revival architecture, featuring 140 cultural monuments, museums and expositions...

 town since he was ten. He learned stonecutting in the Albania

Albania

Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...

n town of Korçë

Korçë

Korçë is a city in southeastern Albania and the capital of the Korçë District. It has a population of around 105,000 people , making it the sixth largest city in Albania...

 when he was 17, and then mastered the construction of churches, bell tower

Bell tower

A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...

s and bridge

Bridge

A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...

s from the craftsmen in Bratsigovo

Bratsigovo

Bratsigovo is a town in Southern Bulgaria. It is located in the foothills of the Rhodope Mountains, on the banks of the Umishka River in Pazardzhik oblast, and is close to the towns of Peshtera and Krichim....

.

Kolyu Ficheto became a journeyman

Journeyman

A journeyman is someone who completed an apprenticeship and was fully educated in a trade or craft, but not yet a master. To become a master, a journeyman had to submit a master work piece to a guild for evaluation and be admitted to the guild as a master....

 at the age of 23 and was fully recognized as a master craftsman

Master craftsman

A master craftsman or master tradesman was a member of a guild. In the European guild system, only masters were allowed to be members of the guild....

 by the whole builders' guild

Guild

A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...

 at 36. Aside from his native language Bulgarian

Bulgarian language

Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...

, he spoke fluent Turkish

Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...

 and good Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 and Romanian

Romanian language

Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...

, but was illiterate, unable to read and write. Kolyu Ficheto is known for having lain under one of his own bridges to guarantee its safety with his life.

Fichev died in Veliko Tarnovo

Veliko Tarnovo

Veliko Tarnovo is a city in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. Often referred to as the "City of the Tsars", Veliko Tarnovo is located on the Yantra River and is famous as the historical capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire, attracting many tourists...

, where he was buried, in 1881.

Some of his notable works include the Byala Bridge (Беленски мост, Belenski most) over the Yantra River

Yantra River

The Yantra is a river in northern Bulgaria, a right tributary of the Danube. It is 285 km long and has a watershed of 7,862 km²....

 close to Byala (1865-1867), the Covered Bridge

Covered Bridge, Lovech

The Covered Bridge is, as the name suggests, a covered bridge in the town of Lovech, Bulgaria. The bridge crosses the Osam River, connecting the old and new town parts of Lovech, being possibly the most recognisable symbol of the town....

 in Lovech

Lovech

Lovech is a town in north-central Bulgaria with a population of 36,296 as of February 2011. It is the administrative centre of the Lovech Province and of the subordinate Lovech Municipality. The town is located about 150 km northeast from the capital city of Sofia...

 over the Osam

Osam

The Osam is a river in northern Bulgaria. Its drainage basin is in between that of the river Vit to the west and the Yantra system to the east. The river has two main tributaries in its upper course: the Black Osam takes its source from the foot of Levski Peak in the Balkan Mountains, at an...

 (1872-1874), churches in his native town, as well as in Svishtov

Svishtov

Svishtov is a town in northern Bulgaria, located in Veliko Tarnovo Province on the right bank of the Danube river opposite the Romanian town of Zimnicea. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Svishtov Municipality...

 (Church of the Holy Trinity

Church of the Holy Trinity, Svishtov

The Church of the Holy Trinity is a 19th-century Bulgarian Orthodox church in the northern Bulgarian town of Svishtov and one of the finest examples of late Bulgarian National Revival church architecture....

, 1867) and Veliko Tarnovo (1844), where he also designed a number of houses and public buildings.

Honour

Ficheto Point

Ficheto Point

Ficheto Point is an ice-free point on the northeast coast of Varna Peninsula, Livingston Island, Antarctica forming the southeast side of the entrance to Dragon Cove. Channel Rock is lying in the adjacent northwestern part of McFarlane Strait, northeast of Ficheto Point and south-southwest of...

 on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands

South Shetland Islands

The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands, lying about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, with a total area of . By the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, the Islands' sovereignty is neither recognized nor disputed by the signatories and they are free for use by any signatory for...

, Antarctica is named after Kolyu Ficheto.

External links