Yuriy Venelin

Yuriy Ivanovich Venelin (Ukrainian: Юрій Іванович Венелін; 22 September 1802 – 26 March 1839) was a Rusyn Slavist, folklorist, ethnographer and philologist best known for his research on the language, history and culture of Bulgaria and the Bulgarian people.

Venelin was born as Georgiy Hutsa in Subcarpathian Ruthenia, Kingdom of Hungary (today in Zakarpattia Oblast of Ukraine). He enrolled at Lviv University and later moved to Chişinău, where he examined the language and history of Bulgarian expatriates. Venelin studied medicine at the University of Moscow, but his interest in the culture of Bulgarians continued.

In 1830, he was envoyed to the Ottoman-ruled Bulgarian lands by the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences. He visited Bulgarian cities like Varna, Kavarna and Silistra, recording folk songs and sayings and gaining a firsthand knowledge of the Bulgarian language's specifics. In 1836, he made the acquaintance of Odessa-based Bulgarian émigré Vasil Aprilov, with whom he kept up an active correspondence.

Venelin died in Moscow.

Venelin was the author of The old and today's Bulgarians in their political, ethnographic, historical and religious relations to the Russians, published in three volumes from 1839 to 1841. The work has been credited for popularizing the Bulgarian culture and history in the Russian Empire and influencing the national feelings of many Bulgarian émigrés.

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