In 1914, the Italian architect Mariano Pernigoni laid the cornerstone of the new five-story building of the French College of St. Augustine. The French College was one of the most renowned educational institutions in the country and played an important role in the training of the Bulgarian intelligentsia. The college was an important cultural centre and had a rich library, brass band, chemical laboratory, sports base and pedagogical museum.
Following a change in the country's political regime on September 1, 1948, the college and the other seven French Catholic schools in Bulgaria were closed .
Inscription on a cornerstone of the French college “St. Augustine”
Inscription on a cornerstone of the French college “St. Augustine”
Mariano Pernigoni made a significant contribution to the Europeanization of post-liberation Plovdiv. The buildings of the Central Station, the Bell Tower of the Catholic Cathedral " St. Ludwig", the building of the theological seminary, Hotel Molle (later Hotel Republic) and others were his works.
