The laboratory of their ideology was until recently a depopulated village of Varna. There is the cradle of “Greatness”. In the last 5 years or so, hundreds of people from all over the country and abroad have trusted them not just with their voice, but also with their spars, their future... and followed them to the village of Neofit Rilski.
The first representative sample of the electorate of “Majesty” was gathered there. The village is known for the mega project “Historical Park”. But even more impressive than the park is the community of young people who have moved to live here. To create families and children. They are not just residents, but investors and community, writes bTV.
They also have a guide. Ivelin Mihailov - The Creator.
„I come from Sofia. And two years ago I moved with my family to Neofit Rilski“, says Alexandra Beshevlieva.
„It works well for me here, because there are people who are similar to us,” says Marina Ivanova.
„I came here because of the environment, here I met my husband. My husband. He came here from Sofia. But we didn't know each other before. Here we meet, here we fall in love, here we have a child”, explained Kristina Kapitanova.
„The decision to come to live here is from 2019. I see potential in this thing and I have decided to get involved with some amount in the “Historical Park”. They are bought shares. Like any AD. The project does not distribute profits. Because it is a starting stage. I think a project like this requires a bit more time. I didn't look for profits, I don't think such a huge machine can be started so quickly, says Ivaylo Ivanov.
The really old houses in the village are disappearing one after the other, and new ones are being built in their place - but ancient, medieval, from the First and Second Bulgarian kingdoms. Greatness is in the fantasy of the past. The style of the settlement resembles Skopje, but unlike Macedonian ancient plasterboard buildings, here the fantasy of history is created with significantly higher quality building materials.
Ivelin Mihailov is the driving force behind the project for the village of Neofit Rilski.
„I have bought lots when they were at a low price. I have over 4,000 acres of UPI, which I bought at the low prices,”, he explained.
Two days after the elections, the NRA opened proceedings against Ivelin Mihailov's companies for the presence of financial schemes and fraud, the tax director announced, adding that Mihailov's companies have 600,000 debts to the NRA.
On a village street, on the left there is a completed ancient house, on the right a medieval one under construction and we reach two brand new revival houses, where Alexandra Beshelieva and her family live. She is an IT specialist from Sofia. She greets us while her children have a Russian lesson at home.
We have 4 children. Here in this village and in the municipality of Vetrino we find the things we are looking for.
Who owns all these houses?
Different people, different investors. These houses can be made possible by getting a few people like us together and pooling what little capital they have. Type of investment.
Is there an ideology that unites people here?
This is why we moved here. We came here a few times before we decided to move. There are people who are here to give and work. Volunteer actions are organized every Saturday and Sunday. People who do and give for the common good. Here we have access to clean food and normal relationships.
They define themselves as patriots, but they are preparing for the time when, according to them, half the world will speak Russian.
Christina's job is to find people to get involved in the project for the community and to build the houses financially.
Investors in “Historical Park“ and the Ivaylo and Marina Ivanovi family. He comes here from Sofia, and she from Germany.
Bulgaria, roots, traditions. This is how the young people here see their future. As well as almost half of the Bulgarians living in Western Europe, who last week voted for “Greatness” and “Revival“. They are young, but they are suspicious of modern medicine.
From Marina we learn why Bulgarians who don't like Europe live there: “And they run away because other countries are regulated, if you call the police, you will get justice. They don't run away because they don't like Bulgarian.“
They want justice like in the West, but they vote for parties that deny Western values. An example of a solved problem, according to the Ivanovi family, is security, which is taken care of by the security company “Guardians”. Also part of the community.
The post office in Neofit Rilski was an old building from the time of socialism, but it is now medieval. The pub. She was an old village horemag. It is already renaissance. Here, the remnants of the reality and grayness of socialism are replaced by fantasies and reenactments from the Renaissance, Antiquity and the Middle Ages. How beautiful the story is is decided today. A cult and a refuge in the past where you can fantasize about greatness.
Members of this community are not just investors. They profess an ideology. And at the head of this ideology is the Creator. Ivelin Mihailov speaks from large plasma screens in the village pub and preaches how to fix Bulgaria. How to live healthy. Cult of everything Bulgarian. A cult of the past. The foreign is a threat if it comes from the developed world. Foreign food is harmful. On a pedestal in the middle of the establishment is the book about the Creator.
The first lines of the beautiful deluxe edition for the Creator read about his difficult childhood, associated with an abusive father, abandonment and poverty, as well as his political views: “In my childhood, the country was ruled by the Communist Party and the NRB was a strong state. The streets and sidewalks were clean, young people respected their elders. Then I regretfully thought that God had created me at a time when everything was settled and I had nothing to do for my country. Bulgaria was so strong that I thought it was impossible for this to change. But my time has come after all.“
We meet Ivelin Mihailov to find out if he has a plan to create a People's Republic, as written in the book.
People's Republic of Bulgaria?
There is no way this can come back in this day and age, anyone who thinks so is naive. We were never hungry under communism, during the Transition we were left with nothing to eat. Grandma once came, a woman had given her two jars of lard. With two jars of lard and two loaves of bread. And I've always slept in the cold. And I had no clothes to go out in, and had to fight every day because of the crime outside. Zero crime before, zero...
The scale of construction in Neofit Rilski is impressive and can hardly be estimated at less than hundreds of millions of euros. Where does this money come from?
The good organization. Ask the biggest companies in Bulgaria how much they can do this thing for.
We are trying to learn exactly how the projects are financed in Neofit Rilski.
I do business according to a textbook, I can say that I am one of the best businessmen in Bulgaria and in Europe. I am forced to defend myself.
The investments that are happening in the village? Who pays for this thing?
I had clients, I build the house, sell, invest the profit in “Historical Park”.
At the end of the book about the Creator, Ivelin Mihailov tells about his plan, how the population of Bulgaria will become between 30 and 40 million. He reveals what his role will be for the future of Bulgaria: “People need a leader who will go forward and whom they can follow. If someone better comes along at some point, I will gladly give up the seat.“
„I never wanted to be a driver. Colonel Markov wants to be in politics, I am a link between politics and the people, to go to places to see them and pass the information on to the people," Mihailov explained.
There everything is related to the past, but how do you imagine the future?
I imagine the future to be flying in space. I'm telling you directly.
They are young, educated, lived abroad. They are informed by the algorithms of social networks. They distrust traditional media, traditional medicine, take their freedom to travel for granted. They have fantasies about the past and believe that the real threat to them is the food in western chain stores, the pharmaceutical industry and the loss of traditional values. They believe in herbs, names and rituals. They do not recognize the Western world as free. They don't see a threat from the east either. As they choose the future, they live in the tale of the past, which someone beautifully writes and stands for them.