Dimitar Agura

Dimitar Dimitrov Agura was a Bulgarian historian, one of the first professors of history at Sofia University and a rector of that same institution. He was born in the Russian Empire as a member of the Bessarabian Bulgarian diaspora; when southern Bessarabia was absorbed back into Moldavia in 1856, he became a Moldavian subject, and acquired fluency in Romanian. His immersion into Romanian culture was enhanced during the United Principalities period of the 1860s and 1870s: young Agura graduated from the Bulgarian School in Bolgrad, from the Socola Seminary in Iași, and finally from the University of Iași, also joining Junimea literary society. Working as a teacher and inspector in Romanian provincial schools, he befriended fellow Junimists such as Mihai Eminescu and Ion Creangă. As a result of a sudden illness, he returned to his alma mater in Bolgrad, and was still active there during the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1877-1878.