Bulgaria, Kingdom. A University of Sofia "St. Kliment Ohridski" Fiftieth Anniversary Table Medal 1938

In bronze, stamped twice in Cyrillic text with the Milosheva of Sofia maker mark and coded "3-23-89" on the edge, obverse illustrating Saint Clement of Ohrid (St. Kliment Ohridski) framed by his name in Cyrillic text on either side, and engraved marked "Milosheva", reverse inscribed in Cyrillic text "University St. Kliment Ohridski Sofia" with the dates "836-916" (the saint's birth and death dates) above and "1888-1938" (the founding and fiftieth anniversary dates of the university) below, within an open-ended wreath of laurel leaves and oak leaves, measuring 70.2 mm in diameter, edge nicks, spotting, contact marks, very fine. Accompanied by a newspaper article in Cyrillic entitled "The Morality of the Bulgarian People", in its hardshelled case of issue, embossed image of Saint Clement of Ohrid on the lid, recessed medal bed, soiling evident on the exterior and on the inside lid, case fair.

Footnote: Saint Clement of Ohrid was a medieval Bulgarian saint, scholar, writer and enlightener of the Slavs. He was one of the most prominent disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius and is often associated with the creation of the Glagolitic and Cyrillic scripts, especially their popularization among Christianized Slavs. He was the founder of the Ohrid Literary School and is regarded as a patron of education and language by some Slavic people. He is considered to be the first bishop of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, one of the seven Apostles of the Bulgarian Empire and one of the premier saints of modern Bulgaria. Saint Clement is also the patron saint of the Republic of Macedonia, the city of Ohrid and the Macedonian Orthodox Church. The University of Sofia "St. Kliment Ohridski" was founded on October 1, 1888. The provisional statute recognized only one Faculty, that of History and Philology. The 1889-1890 academic year witnessed the foundation of the Department of Physics and Mathematics. In 1938, the University celebrated its fiftieth anniversary as a fully developed academic institution, with seven faculties, seventy-two institutes, clinics and seminars, eminent full-time and visiting professors, considerable library holdings and its own journal. It had 42,826 full-time students, 14,826 of them graduates. University professors established a number of schools and trends in the fields of mathematics, physics, chemistry, linguistics and history. In the 1947-52 period the National Assembly passes a number of bills which separate some Faculties and Institutes from the body of the University. They form the foundations of new schools of higher education: the Higher Institute of Economics, the Medical Academy, the Veterinary-Medical Institute, the Academy of Agriculture. Some Institutes are included in the structures of the Bulgarian Academy of Science.