Development of Crafts in the Town of Svishtov from the National Liberation to the end of the 19th C

This article traces the development of crafts in the town of Svishtov in the period from the National Liberation to the end of the XIX century. The presented statements are based on archival documentary sources, published statistical data as well as studies that have been done on the issue so far. The reasons for the successful development of some of the traditional crafts of the Bulgarian Revival period and the decline of others have been outlined. The impact of government policy on economic processes occurring in the development of crafts in Svishtov, as well as the measures taken in districts and municipalities, have been described. It has been concluded that as a result of socio-economic changes after the National Liberation, some of the traditional crafts that had flourished during the Bulgarian Revival period, were restructured and adapted to the new market conditions. Despite the strong competition from imported goods, they continued to be practiced till the end of the period (tailoring and fashioning clothes). Another group of crafts, where difficulties occurred even prior to the National Liberation and as a result of the changes, died out (cotton cloth making). Some crafts, owing to the preserved traditions of the past, proved to be viable and continued their struggle for survival (cooperage, furriery, construction of boats and sailing vessels). New crafts appeared in order to meet the changed tastes and demands of the population in the area of clothing and household products (making of chairs, shoemaking). The article summarizes that the overall development of crafts in the town was slow and unstable. The reasons for that were: the increased importation of foreign goods and conservatism of the craftsmen. They did not make any efforts to meet the changed tastes and demands of the population. Many of them 'were in decline because of their primitivism'. Difficulties also came from the lack of capital for technical modernization of production. Regardless of its predicament, handicraft production continued to occupy an important part of the economic life of Svishtov. At the end of XIX century a considerable part of the population was engaged in handicraft production.