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Peter Dunov in Sofia


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Peter Dunov in Sofia

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The Goumnerov family in whose home Peter Dunov first settled in Sofia.

During his travels around the country, Peter Dunov often visited Sofia. Life in the capital city was more intensive. The new spiritual movements gained ground more easily. Theosophy and spiritism enjoyed universal interest: numerous circles, societies, and groups followed the fashionable theories. Various branches of Protestantism - Baptists, Methodists, etc. - also flourished in the capital city. Peter Dunov met with a lot of new people. They would come to him. Often their beliefs were opposite to his but he would not argue with them. Used to observing and analyzing, he found useful in every encounter. Dunov often attended the talks of popular lecturers. He followed closely the latest books, looking for manifestations of free thought.

Soon he met Dimitar Golov, a popular personality in intellectual circles. He had studied Catholic theology in Rome and had spent some time as a missionary in Africa but then gave up priesthood for a career in book publishing. Golov was the first one in Sofia to publish occult literature. His bookstore in Alabin St. was more like a club where one could find interesting reading, discuss philosophical issues and acquire new spiritual knowledge. Dunov's followers from the country would meet in that bookstore.

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The house of the Goumnerov family in 66, Opalchenska St.

The knowledge of the occult in Peter Dunov's lectures, his experience and profound erudition in many spheres of life quickly made him popular in Sofia. A circle was formed whose interest to his ideas urged him to spend a longer time in Sofia. He usually stayed with Evangelist friends. Sometimes he stayed at Golov's place or rented briefly a room in the outer districts.

In the fall of 1904, a young Evangelist family of the name of Goumnerov joined the group. They invited Dunov to move to their place and he accepted. The Goumnerov house was in 66, Opalchenska St., a twin-house with Evangelist Dimitar Mihailov living next door. By some odd coincidence, in Opalchenska St. Dunov and the young Georgi Dimitrov, the future leader of the Bulgarian working class, became neighbours.

The house was small, consisting of three tiny rooms. The Goumnerov family lived in one, Peter Deunov had the room looking on to the street, and the third gradually became the first hall for spiritual meetings. Dunov started giving talks to a small circle of close friends. Some of them would put down his words. Often he offered answers to questions that had not been asked. This is why his talks were often referred to as "classes"; those who attended them felt as if they were at school.

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Peter Dunov's room.; The dining room.

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