Marin Cholakov's Pub

In 1896 architect Edvin Patritsky built a one-storey building at 41 Knyazheska Street for the merchant Marin Cholakov.

Marin Cholakov was a famous wholesaler from Ruse who imported Russian mustard, Swiss cheese, Dutch flower bulbs, caviar, salmon, smoked fish, dried mushrooms, caramel. He was said to have a pub on the ground floor.

Marin Cholakov’s pub used to be the meeting place of inquisitive readers, who would find there European newspaper such as Figaro, Monde, Ilustracion. In 1897, only two years after the Lumières held their first private screening of projected motion pictures in Paris, in this very building the first public show of motion picture in Bulgaria was held with the assistance of Georgi Kuzmich, a traveling cinematographer. 

Among the first pictures watched by the Ruse citizens were Meeting the Train, Workers Leaving the Factories, as well as the first comedy The Wet Watering Man. They were mostly organized by travelling cinematographers in different cafes, pubs and hotels. The entrance was only 1 lev. After Ruse, motion pictures were showed in Sofia, Varna, Plovdiv and other big cities in Bulgaria.

In 1911 Ruse acquired its first real cinema hall – Modern Theatre.

In the following years the building was owned by Dr Korabov, a specialist in skin and sexually-transmitted diseases, who added another second floor. At present, it accommodates Kralska zakuska (King’s Snack) snack bar.