Grigor Spiridonov (1930-2000)

Grigor Spiridonov was born in 1930 in Sofia. He studied “Illustration” under Prof. Veselin Staykov and later “Monumental-decorative painting” in the studio of Prof. Georgi Bogdanov at the National Academy of Arts in Sofia (then called the “High institute for fine arts “Nikolai Pavlovich”), from which he graduated in 1961. He assisted Prof. Georgi Bogdanov with the mural in the Regional History Museum at Veliko Tarnovo.

Grigor Spiridonov worked in monumental art, painting, and graphics. He settled in Veliko Tarnovo in 1963, and in the late 1970s, he became the city’s chief artist and created for it historically themed paintings and monumental works in sgraffito and mosaic techniques. He is the author of Veliko Tarnovo’s coat of arms. Some of his works include stained glass windows in the Veliko Tarnovo municipality building, mosaics in the National Palace of Culture (NDK), and the Buzludzha Monument (Monument House of the Bulgarian Communist Party). He collaborated with Dechko Uzunov on the mosaic “Historical Flight of the Motherland” in the Boyana residence.

Grigor Spiridonov received several awards, including first prize for the cycle “April 1876” in 1967, first prize from an “OHI” exhibition (a state-sponsored collective exhibition ) with the theme “Veliko Tarnovo” in 1969, and first prize for monumental arts in the name of Iliya Petrov in 1975.

Grigor Spiridonov passed away in 2000 in Sofia.