University Archive

Fund №1 Prof. Ivan Sarailiev

He was born in Sofia on 1/14 June 1887. He received his high school education in his hometown and his higher education in the Sorbonne in Paris, where he studied philosophy. In 1909 he graduated as a "license es lettres" and went to England to complete his philosophical education. Upon his return to Bulgaria he enrolled as a teacher at the First Men's High School in Sofia. In 1916-1919 he served in the Bulgarian foreign missions in Berlin (Germany) and Bern (Switzerland). Since 1920 he has been a regular professor of History of Philosophy at Sofia University. In addition to teaching he also performed administrative functions - during the academic years 1930/31, 1940/41 and 1945/46, 1947/48 he was Dean of the Faculty of History and Philology, and in 1946 was briefly Rector of the University. 1950 marks the end of his academic career at our first institution of higher education - for political reasons, for the most part, he is forced to retire.
Ivan Sarailiev leaves a remarkable trace in the history of Bulgarian philosophy with his numerous scientific publications, most notably "Modern Science and Religion", "Pragmatism", "Socrates" and others. Of great importance are his university lecture courses: History of Ancient Philosophy, History of Philosophy in the Middle Ages, Bergson's Philosophy, History of Modern Philosophy, and more. Sarailiev is also one of the founders of the Philosophical Club in Sofia. In addition to the philosophical life of Bulgaria, he is also actively involved at the international level - he is involved in the work of almost all philosophical congresses organized abroad before World War II, and is a member of the Standing Committee on the Organization of these World Scientific Forums.
The prominent Bulgarian philosopher also actively cooperates with such societies and organizations of major public importance as the English-speaking League in Sofia, Alliance Frances, Bulgarian-British Reciprocity, and others.

Ivan Sarailiev died in Sofia on May 23, 1969. 

The documents from Ivan Sarailiev's personal archive fund and his library were submitted to the University Archive in the period 1999-2006 as a donation by his heirs Kina and Eliana Arnaudov. Thus, these materials were processed and filed under Archive fund №1. Among the autobiographical materials in the archive of Sarayiliev kept at NBU, a particularly interesting source for the intellectual development of the future scientist, as well as for the Bulgarian and European cultural and social and political life in the early decades of the twentieth century, are his personal diaries and diary entries covering the time interval from 1905 to 1943. Of the preserved material with biographical content, we can point out, for example, his high diplomas from the "Dencoglu" Primary School and in the First and Second Sofia Men's High School, his student books and cards from the study of Sarailiev at Sofia University, the Sorbonne, the Universities of Berlin and Bern, a diploma for the Sorbonne's license es letters, and more.

The preserved correspondence testifies to the wide connections of Prof. Sarailiev with reputable Bulgarian and foreign actors in the field of science, culture and politics. Among the illustrative materials in the foreground are the photographs of Sarailiev with his family and his classmates from the first issue of the Second Sofia Men's High School – all of them are the work of the famous Bulgarian photographer Ivan Karastoyanov.