Emanuil Manolov was born in Gabrovo in 1860, studied at the Moscow Conservatory and wrote Siromahkinya, the first Bulgarian opera, after Ivan Vazov; he died at Kazanlak in 1902, one of the founders of his country's professional musical life. The town's house of culture carries his name. Its hall is where Gabrovo hears touring opera and orchestral concerts, and where the exhibitions, meetings and amateur societies that such buildings exist to hold go on between them. The Emanuil Manolov House of Culture is a performing-arts and community venue in central Gabrovo, at 2 Timok Street.