Georgi Fingov

Who was Georgi Fingov?

Georgi Dimitrov Fingov was a Bulgarian architect who was particularly influenced by French Art Nouveau and is regarded as the first prominent representative of the Bulgarian Secession in architecture. Fingov's works range from private houses though schools and public buildings to royal palaces and hunting lodges for the Bulgarian Royal Family.

Fingov was born in Kalofer to the family of Dimitar Fingov, a Kiev and Moscow-educated polyglot teacher who was an acquaintance of Hristo Botev and Ivan Vazov. After the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1878, Georgi Fingov's father was briefly governor of Targovishte, Botevgrad and Pleven.

In 1892, Georgi Fingov graduated from the Plovdiv high school and moved to Vienna, Austria–Hungary, to study architecture at what is today the Vienna University of Technology. As a student, Fingov was an assistant of Karl Mayreder at the university and worked in the prominent Austrian architect's studio. Leaving behind prospects of a successful career in Vienna, in 1898 Fingov returned to Bulgaria. In Plovdiv, he established a studio together with the local architect Valkovich. Together, the two designed the building of the Plovdiv French College for Girls.