Bansko Bulgarian Municipality
is a public organisation of local self-government in the village of
Bansko (today a town), established circa 1850. The Bansko Bulgarian
Municipality is a continuation of the all-village community council
founded in 1833 by Lazar German for raising funds, materials and labour
force for the construction and iconography of the Sveta Troitsa church,
which was consecrated in 1835. Prominent merchants and craftsmen were
elected to serve as village council elders. The Council’s activity
during the 60-70s mainly consisted in fighting off Greek church authorities
in order to gain independence for the Bulgarian church and set the
ground for development of educational and cultural activities in the
village. By the Council’s initiative a new school was built (1857),
the "mutual school" was upgraded
to a class school, Revival period newspapers and literature started
to be disseminated. The municipality organised the construction of
the bell tower of the "Sveta Troitsa” church (1850) and the
mounting of the clock (1865). During the 70s, together with other
municipalities from the Razlog region, the town council fought back
against Protestant propaganda. The Bansko Bulgarian Municipality
assisted financially families that suffered after the crush of the
Kresnensko-Razlozhko uprising 1878 - 1879 and the Ilinden uprising
1903. During the Balkan war, at the liberation of Bansko (October
1912), the municipality organised the collection of food and clothes
for Bulgarian army and the volunteer groups of VMORO (Internal Macedonian
Odrin Revolutionary Organisation). The new five-member municipal
authority, elected in 1912 and headed by Mayor Asen Todev, was included
in the newly established state administrative structure of Bulgaria.
