The town of Shumen is a municipality with a population of 94 035 people. It consists of 26 towns and villages. The historical sites Pliska and Veliki Preslav - the first Bulgarian capitals, and the ancient cult center Madara are the landmarks of the region. The town is an important administrative, cultural and educational center with rich history and cultural heritage.

The Regional public Library "Stilian Chilingirov” in Shumen is one of the biggest and richest in fund libraries in the country. It was founded in 1922 as the fourth deposit library in Bulgaria at the initiative of Stilian Chilingirov. The library is among the few libraries in the country with a specially designed building, constructed in 1980 to provide its readers with a diverse and effective service. The literary treasures of the library exceed 750 000 library documents.

The eminent writer, scientist, educator, and politician Stilian Chilingirov was born on 26.10.1881g. in Shumen. He received his primary and secondary education in his home town. He graduated from St.Kliment Ohridski University in Sofia in 1909, and from 1909 to 1911 specialized in history and literature in Berlin and Leipzig. Chilingirov’s works contributed to almost all areas of the Bulgarian language and literature. His works in the fields of history, ethnography, and folklore are more than twenty. He is the author of the novel "Hliab nash nasushtni”, and the versed novel “Vlado Bulatov” - the first of its kind in world poetry; his book of memoirs "My contemporaries” is of great literary value as well.