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ROMANIAN CONSULATE / HOTEL “ANNA PALACE”
DINA BABIS ‘HOUSE
Ruse city, 4 Knyazheska St.Today’s building of the Anna Palace Hotel in Ruse has a long and interesting history, which is related to the relations between Bulgaria and Romania. It is a fact that the first Romanian Consulate was opened in Rousse. As early as May 28, 1879, Alexander Stojanovic was appointed consul. The building that housed the consulate was built in 1888. It belonged to the brothers Konstantin D. Bebis and Dimitar Z. Bebis, sons of two brothers, Greeks Dino and Ziso Bebis, who settled in Ruse and worked as hamals of the Rousse port. Thanks to their innate entrepreneurship, they become traders, exporters of grain.
In 1883, Konstantin and Dimitar Bebis registered the company K. D. Bebis & Co, which is one of the largest exporters of cereals until the First World War. Having acquired a serious state of commerce and banking, Bebis awarded in 1888 to Arch. S. Valsamaki to design their house.
The massive building overlooking the Danube River was built the same year. The interior and furnishings of the house are expensive and wasteful, suitable for the wealthy owners. The lavish murals on the walls and the chandelier of bronze, adorned with a women’s locket and stylized flowers and birds, in the reception lounge amaze Bebis guests. In 1898 a part of the house was rented to the Simeonov brothers, where their enterprise for the construction of the Ruse-Gorna Oryahovitsa-Tarnovo railway line was located.
In 1906, after the anti-Greek sentiment in Ruse, Ziso Bebis left the city, entrusting the family values and money to the then mayor, and later the district governor Ivan Kovachev, who later refused to return them. The family tragedy ends with the suicide of Ziso Bebis, and his brother Dina sells the property to Hugo Schober, the owner of the first modern taxis in Ruschuk and the Honorary Consul of Austria in Ruse. His car’s piazza was in front of the Income Building. The Russians did not have much faith in the new vehicles and preferred to use the services of Sharket-Arabasi for horse-drawn carriage. In order to prove the safety of his taxis, Schoberman took advantage of the freezing of the Danube and crossed one of them by ice to the opposite Romanian coast. Extravagant advertising has earned citizenship credibility.
There is a legend about the house: “One night in 1910, Hugo Schober played poker with the industrialist Petko H. Petkov. In the first round, Petkov lost a huge sum. The game ignited the passions of the men and they raised the mass. Then Petkov’s beautiful wife joined the Schober lost his win. At the last deal, Petkov bet his wife and Schober his rich house. The bet was won by the industrialist from Ruse through the hand of his half. ”
The Italian, Austro-Hungarian and, for the longest time, the Romanian Consulate are housed in the house. In 1952 an exposition of the Museum of History was opened in this house and after the earthquake of 1977 it was made available to the Hunting and Fisheries Union.
In 2001, Ivan Dobrev Milev, the owner of the company AERI-44, bought it for auction. Repair and restoration work began in September of the same year. The Anna Palace Hotel opens its doors on April 9, 2003. The building skillfully blends the spirit of the aristocratic Danube city with the modern, dynamic city.
ROMANIAN CONSULAR OFFICE / ANNA PALACE HOTEL / DINA BABIS HOUSE
Address: 4, Knyazheska Street, Ruse,
