{"id":1793,"date":"2010-01-01T02:16:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-01T00:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/uncategorized\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-february-16\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T10:19:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T08:19:39","slug":"on-this-day-in-bulgaria-february-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-february-16\/","title":{"rendered":"On This Day in Bulgaria: February 16"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>February 16 gave Bulgaria&#8217;s history two of its most consequential institutional births \u2014 one that anchored church identity at the heart of the national cause, the other that gave the country its own organized voice in the world of news.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>February 16, 1872 \u2014 Antim of Vidin Is Elected First Bulgarian Exarch<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Metropolitan Antim of Vidin was elected the first Bulgarian Exarch by a convention of clergy in Constantinople. The election was a decisive moment in the Bulgarian Church struggle, which had sought independence from the authority of the Greek-dominated Patriarchate of Constantinople. Church autonomy was not only a religious question \u2014 it was central to national identity, education, language, and community organization under Ottoman rule.<\/p>\n<p>The Bulgarian Exarchate became an institution through which Bulgarians could build schools, appoint clergy, and defend cultural rights across the empire. Antim&#8217;s election gave leadership to this structure and strengthened the connection between church and national revival, making February 16, 1872 one of the great institutional victories of the Bulgarian nineteenth century.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>February 16, 1898 \u2014 BTA Releases Its First News Bulletin<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Bulgarian News Agency released its first news bulletin, hand-written by its director Oskar Iskender. The four-page bulletin contained seven news items, including stock and commodity exchange prices, Balkan developments, and news about Princess Clementine of Orleans, mother of Prince Ferdinand I. The event marked the practical birth of BTA as Bulgaria&#8217;s national news agency.<\/p>\n<p>In the late nineteenth century, a modern state needed reliable information flows \u2014 diplomacy, newspapers, markets, and government all depended on news arriving quickly and accurately. BTA would go on to document wars, political changes, culture, sport, disasters, and everyday public life for more than a century.<\/p>\n<p>What happened on the days nearby? See <a href=\"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-february-15\/\">February 15<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria\/on-this-day-in-bulgaria-february-17\/\">February 17<\/a>. And for a visual journey through the country, visit our <a href=\"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/category\/from-above\/\">Bulgaria From Above<\/a> series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On this day in Bulgarian history: Antim of Vidin was elected first Bulgarian Exarch in 1872, and BTA released its first news bulletin in 1898.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":915,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-on-this-day-in-bulgaria","latest_post"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>On This Day in Bulgaria: February 16 History<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On this day in Bulgaria, February 16: Antim of Vidin 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