Bulgaria to grant BGN 180,000 for the Neshkov Vrah ossuary monument near Caribrod
09 May 2019 News
A grant agreement between the Government of the Republic of Bulgaria and Caribrod Municipality is to be signed today by Radko Vlaikov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Bulgaria to Serbia, and Vladica Dimitrov, the Mayor of the town of Caribrod. The ceremony will take place at 11 a.m. in the town of Caribrod, the Republic of Serbia. The beneficiary project of Caribrod Municipality, approved for funding by the Republic of Bulgaria through the budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for building electrified infrastructure for the Neshkov Vrah memorial complex, has a value of BGN 180,000 and is to be implemented in the context of the Bulgarian policy of cooperation for development. The project is of exceptional significance for the local predominantly Bulgarian community. The Neshkov Vrah ossuary monument is among the most important cultural and historical monuments in the history of Bulgaria and Serbia. It is the final resting place of the bones of the fallen Bulgarian and Serbian soldiers in the fratricidal war of 1885.
This year, the Bulgarian policy of cooperation for development will support projects in 9 countries of the Western Balkans and the Eastern partnership, including Serbia. The total amount to be disbursed in almost BGN 3.5 million. In Serbia alone, projects will also be funded in Bosilegrad, as well as programs for cohesion between Serbian and European education, and other undertakings. At a meeting in April of this year, the Minister of European Integration of the Republic of Serbia Jadranka Joksimović thanked Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva for the projects being implemented with Bulgarian support in the context of its assistance for development, and emphasized their importance.
The implementation of the Neshkov Vrah project will help improve the infrastructure of that historic locality and public access to it and to the adjacent Holi Trinity monastery complex. The growing number of tourists: Bulgarians, Serbs and foreigners, who visit the site and the difficult, hard to navigate terrain have forced Caribrod municipality as early as 2016 to seek possibilities for resurfacing the road with asphalt and building the necessary infrastructure for full access. The funding of the project will promote tourism and will contribute to the popularity of Neshkov Vrah.
The first phase of the project to be funded by the Bulgarian state is the construction of electrified infrastructure for the memorial complex. Subsequently, there are plans to illuminate the monument at night, which will make it visible from Caribrod and the surrounding countryside, as well as from as far away as Bulgaria. The second phase of the project envisions the building of an asphalt road between Caribrod and Neshkov Vrah, for which Caribrod Municipality has allocated the necessary funding from its budget.