Maria Zabova did not miss a single Sunday Service at Alexander Nevski Cathedral, in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, for more than 40 years.
She single-handedly sounded the tonne-weight bells to call people to prayer. Maria wasn't always as happy in her faith though. In the Communist years she was persecuted for coming to church and found ingenious ways to stay true to her beliefs.
Maria passed away in August 2022 at the age of 93.
Mojca Kovacic
Dear My Century team!I am an ethnomusicologist from Ljubljana, Slovenia and saw your film about the bell ringing lady from Sofia. As a bell researcher, I am preparing myself to study bell ringing in Bulgaria also and would be very grateful to anyone who can give me a contact with the authors of the film in order to get some more informations from them.Thank you in advance for any your answer. I wish you good luck with your work