After several months of controversy and debate, viewers on public broadcaster Bulgarian National Television (BNT) chose the Bulgarian Event of the 20th century live on March 4.

Judging by viewers’ preferences, Bulgarians must be a nation of classical music lovers because the winners were Bulgarian opera singers who had made their mark on the world stage the previous century.

Categorised as Bulgaria’s Opera Miracle, opera singers won the viewers’ vote with 26.56 per cent, followed by the city of Dimitrovgrad (winner in the construction achievements category) with 16.77 per cent and the discovery of the sixth heart tone by professor Ivan Mitev (winner in the scientific discoveries category) with 12.97 per cent.

The result was a surprise, not just to those in BNT’s studios, but also to many viewers because previous stages of the competition (when the 10 category winners were selected) suggested that Dimitrovgrad or the events of September 9 1944 - when, aided by advancing Soviet troops, a coup d’état was staged and the era of communist domination in Bulgaria began Ω would easily win top prize.

Studio commentators suggested that politics and the communist past would dominate the proceedings because most voters are usually pensioners who grew up under communism and still revere those times, particularly given their current economic misfortunes. In other words, young Bulgarians are unlikely to participate and, since most voters were pensioners, anything other than communist-era politics stood no chance.

Indeed, Dimitrovgrad has become the epitome of communist Bulgaria’s desire for industrialisation based on workers’ efforts. This was a city created artificially by the communist state in the 1950s when three villages were merged into one and massive industrial plants were built with the efforts of nearly 50 000 young workers. The city was designed in the "best" style of Stalinist architecture, making it a monument to that era today. The construction of the workers’ city has been immortalised by poets and filmmakers, making it a communist-era icon and one much despised by opponents of communism for its symbolism. Local patriotism has also added to Dimitrovgrad’s result because its residents would undoubtedly want to see their city emerge as Bulgaria’s biggest 20th century event.

Much of what was said in BNT’s studio on March 4 was along those lines with a lot of criticism of the prospect of Dimitrovgrad winning the contest, deemed to be the older generation’s nostalgia for communism when Bulgaria is still struggling to escape from its shadow 21 years on. Dimitrovgrad was described as an ugly Stalinist-type city with basically no real value other than its communist past. The fact that today it is the headquarters of a music production company whose singers perform in the pop-folk style known today as chalga also added to the derision.

As a result, Dimitrovgrad’s city hall and public found these negative comments offensive and offered BNT’s guests a tour around the city to show off its wonders.

And as for the September 9 1944 political event, which for 45 years was celebrated by communist Bulgaria as its national holiday, there is little need to explain why many pensioners are still warmly disposed towards it.

Hence, many were surprised when opera singers and the two favourites won the contest. Especially since Bulgaria does not exactly enjoy the same operatic reputation as, for example, Italy, Austria or Russia. Not that Bulgaria has nothing to be proud of in this area - thanks to singers like Boris Hristov, Nikolai Gyaurov, Nikola Gyuzelev, Raina Kabaivanska, Gena Dimitrova or Anna Tomova-Sintova, long acknowledged as some of the world’s best opera performers who have toured the worlds most famous stages. The surprise was that, in politically-torn Bulgaria, culture won over politics and the past.

According to some of the commentators in BNT’s studios this was perhaps a sign that for once Bulgarians have decided to stay away from politics and all the negativism it brings and focus on something that all Bulgarians can be proud of. And what better way to do it than opera because it was one of the few entries that carried only positive connotations?

Indeed, all of the other pretenders had a mix of positive and negative elements that could only divide opinion. Such was the great love story of proletarian poet Nikola Vaptsarov and his wife (Vaptsarov was killed in 1942 on account of his communist activities) or the 1925 bombing of Sofia’s Sveta Nedelya church by communists, which killed about 200 people. The same applies to the information blackout in the first few days after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and the 1918 battle at Doiran when, despite winning a great battle, Bulgaria ended up on the losing side of World War One.

The winner in the daily life inventions category, the choushkopek (a much-mocked appliance for baking peppers), was interpreted as a sign of national self-criticism. The climbing of Everest by Hristo Prodanov in 1984 is undoubtedly one of Bulgaria’s greatest achievements but also carries a touch of tragedy because Prodanov died on the descent and his body was never recovered.

Final results
1.    Bulgaria’s Opera Miracle - 26.56 per cent
2.    Dimitrovgrad - 16.77 per cent
3.    The Sixth Heart Tone - 12.97 per cent
4.    Nikola Vaptsarov’s Love Story - 9.03 per cent
5.    The 1918 Battle at Doiran - 8.75 per cent
6.    The 1925 Sveta Nedelya church blast - 7.56 per cent
7.    The Climbing of Everest in 1984 - 6.36 per cent
8.    The September 9 1944 arrival of Soviet troops - 5.79 per cent
9.    The Chernobyl information blackout - 4.81 per cent
10.  The Choushkopek appliance - 1.40 per cent