The man from Konyovo
He was born on 15 August 1894 in Konyovo, near Nova Zagora. BTA calls him Vlaycho Zhechev, while the municipal page also uses the surname Zhelev. To visitors and local people, he was simply Dyado Vlaycho.
The municipality describes his refusal of payment as one of his defining traits. That memory also informs the memorial’s name. Helping people stands at the centre of the local account of his life.
Predictions and accounts of the camps
Accounts of Vlaycho include predictions about wars, political events and his visitors’ lives. A particularly well-known story says that he foresaw Georgi Dimitrov’s death. The municipal account links this prediction to his internment in a labour camp.
This is the harsh turn in the story remembered about him: the man others approached for advice faced persecution himself. The reason for his internment is given here as the municipality recounts it; that page does not identify an archival document establishing the connection.
What the House of Goodness preserves
The House of Goodness opened on 15 August 2019. The project was initiated by the then mayor, Nikolay Grozev, and designed by architect Silvia Papazova. It includes a park, monument, chapel and apiary.
The exhibition reconstructs his room. BTA describes clothes, a suitcase, a typewriter, a Bible and a violin. Photographs and letters add the faces and words of people who were part of his life.
Visiting Konyovo
The memorial is in Konyovo, Nova Zagora municipality. Check the official tourism page for current opening hours and contact details before travelling.
On a first visit, start with the reconstructed room, then look through the letters and photographs. If a particular story brought you here, ask whether the exhibition holds material connected with it.
Predictions and accounts with traceable sources
Dyado Vlaycho and Georgi Dimitrov’s death
The municipal account of the House of Goodness says Dyado Vlaycho foretold Georgi Dimitrov’s death and connects this with his imprisonment in a camp.
- Where and when it was recorded
- A later municipal account. It does not reproduce a record of the words made before the event.
- What can be established
- The story belongs to local memory. Without a dated original document, the precise wording and time of the statement cannot be established.
Portrait: Unidentified author / Wikimedia Commons. Public domain
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