“The Unknown Photographer” Georg Wolz

The book album “The Unknown Photographer Georg Wolz” brings together a large part of the work of the renowned Bulgarian photographer with German-French roots and Greek origin.

After many years of work on the digitization of the photographer’s preserved archive, previously undisplayed photographs can be seen.

The photographic heritage captured by Georg Wolz has high historical and artistic value, covering some of the most turbulent times in the Third Bulgarian Kingdom.

This book-album is a comprehensive attempt to create a monographic portrait of this colorful personality. Georg Wolz lived and worked in Bulgaria from the 1890s, and after 1905 he became court photographer to Prince Ferdinand I. He is the author of many of the popular studio portraits and casual photographs of the royal family.

Georg Wolz photographed some of the most significant footage of the fighting during the Balkan War. The photographer’s preserved family archive includes reportage footage of important events such as the declaration of Bulgaria’s Independence, the visit of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, the unveiling of the monument to Tsar Osvoboditel, the construction of the St. Alexander Nevsky Memorial Church, and the great earthquake of 1913 in Gorna Oryahovitsa.

Wolz took stunning panoramic photographs of Bulgaria from an airplane, making him one of the pioneers in this field.

Thanks to his invaluable footage of Sofia and all of Bulgaria, modern man can gain a clear idea of ​​the way of life and lifestyle of the people at that time.

Photographer Georg Wolz left behind a multitude of priceless photographs for generations to come, some of them well-known, such as the photo of the “Thought” circle, and others unknown until the publication of this book-album.

The author of the book-album is Bilyana Braykova Karastoyanova. The processing and retouching of the paper photographs and glass plates were done by Rosen Nenov.

The book is in memory of Françoise Marie Régine Wolz, granddaughter of the photographer and supporter of French-Bulgarian friendship and cooperation. Most of the photographs, part of the book album were kindly provided by the grandson of Georg Wolz – Eng. Ivan Terziev.

The book includes over 900 detailed photographs, a biography and a family tree of the photographer. And the introductory words were written by Assoc. Prof. Georgi Lozanov and Dr. Andrey Zahariev.

The book is hardcover, deluxe edition, consists of 328 pages, format: 70/100/16, printing wheels: 20.5.

The graphic design, prepress and printing were done by GLP Printing.

The book is divided into the following chapters: Memories from the Balkan War Front, Old Sofia, Sofia District, Landscapes from Bulgaria, Personalities, Portraits, Events, The Tsar and His Family.

The album edition of the book is bilingual in Bulgarian and English.