The idea for project came from the members of the local pensioners club. Together with our partners from the Tourist Information Centre we decided to realise it. The main activities were to trace archive pictures, meetings with the people from the community,recording the memories about the 20-ies and the 30-ies of the 20 century. For the project team this was the most pleasant part of the work. The initiative was joined by 10 volunteers of the chitalishte, the pensioners club and the Tourist Information Centre as well as 28 citizens who provided pictures from their family archives. The average age of the volunteers was 26 years. Even the local media and the municipal administration local were inspired by this patriotic initiative and decided to provide some financial support. The other activities followed – printing the pictures, framing and arranging them. The official opening of the exhibition Memories… for the future was an exciting and emotional meeting for the project team, the volunteers, our partners and the local people who were so anxious to see the final result of our research work.

The project was aimed at encouraging the participation and ialogue among the different generations in the local community. The elderly people were deeply moved and flattered by the attention and the feeling that they can be useful to their community. Later some of them brought their children and grandchildren to see the exhibition and to share their memories for the past times.The younger people were intrigued by the black and white images. There were people who had come from other parts of the country especially to see the exhibition. The change, which the project brought, was the increased willingness to participate in community activities and to preserve the traditions and the memories from the past. So the main project goal – to gather memories about our town and to preserve them for the future generations - was achieved. Apart from that, we felt content and satisfied with the work we had done and the positive feed back from the community.

After the end of the exhibition on 30 June some of the photographs were moved to the reception of the municipal administration offices others are exhibited at the Centre for Information Services and the library at the chitalishte. We are already working on the proposal coming from the community to publish the pictures in an album and to distribute it among fellow citizens living abroad and to sell to the tourists visiting our town. 

Ivan Vazov Chitalishte, Hissaria

Lyudmila Mihailova

23 General Gurko Bld.

4180, Hissaria 

Tel. 0337/ 6 21 41; 6 25 43 
hissar_infotour@abv.bg