THE LIGHT OF THE LETTERS
To celebrate the 1150th anniversary of the Great Moravian Mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius – an important stage in the adoption of the Slavonic alphabet – the Elena and Ivan Duichevi Foundation and the State Cultural Institute have arranged an exhibition, “The Light of the Letters”.
The creation of the Slavonic alphabet in the middle of the IX century is of key importance to the history of European culture. The prevalence of Christianity in areas inhabited by many different ethnic groups during the time of the Great Migration was conducive to the maintenance of the identity of the Slavs through the creation of an alphabet in their own language. Bulgaria was a major contribution to its survival and it is no coincidence that its preservation is described as the “cradle” of the spiritual culture of the Slavic peoples. The Christian literature published in Bulgaria was borrowed and adapted by the Serbs and Russians, leading to Orthodox Slavonic establishing itself as a civilizing factor. The exhibition “The Light of the Letters” shows the most valuable decorated Bulgarian medieval manuscripts from the period of the X to the XVIII centuries. It consists of 24 panels, of 100 x 70cm on polypropylene with strips for mounting, and is presented in English.