“Ivan Zambin” Museum
Ivan Zambin (born 1775 in Vratsa and died 1808 in Saint Petersburg, Russia) was a descendant of a noble family from Vratsa. He had a good command of the Russian, Greek, Turkish and Wallachian languages. He had an extraordinary personality and was considered as one of the first Bulgarian intellectuals and most cultured people of his time.
It is clear from what has been preserved from Ivan Zambin’s letters that he championed the idea of a common liberation movement on the Balkans with the close support of Russia. He believed that the united efforts of the subjugated peoples on the Balkans and the assistance from Russia were the hope for the liberation of his people.
Ivan Zambin departed for Russia in the autumn of 1804 together with Atanas Nekovich who was born in Teteven, but moved to Vratsa in 1800 and claimed this town as his adopted home town, after his own was burnt down by the “Kardzhalii” (villains). They crossed Wallachia and in Bucharest where they met the ex-high priest of Vratsa, St. Sofronii Vrachanski, as well as some Bulgarians residing there.
There they established the so called “Secret Society” – the first Bulgarian political organization, which set as its goal to seek ways and means for the liberation of the enslaved Bulgarian country.
It was namely Sofronii who turned to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia to confirm that Ivan Zambin and Atanas Nekovich “were chosen by the General Council of our fellow countrymen to contribute to the general public benefit and they endured so many hardships and put their lives to mortal danger in hazardous situations, in order to find means for the salvation of their home country”.
On February 26th 808, Zambin submitted to the Ministry of foreign affairs of Russia “an epistle of faith” and a “charters of deeds of common benefit”, which were presented personally to the Emperor of Russia.
The diplomatic mission “Zambin-Nekovich” was the first attempt to involve Russia in the Bulgarian liberation cause.
Ivan Zambin’s house accommodates ethnographic exhibitions showing the means of living and the artistic crafts that were traditional for Vratsa – viticulture, wine-production, goldsmith’s trade, sericulture and the silk industry.