“Europe about Bulgaria” presented in Prague
This documentary exhibition compiled within the framework of the "Traveling Exhibitions" Programme was opened on October 16 at the gallery of the Bulgarian Institute of Culture in Prague and is due to close in mid-November. The exhibition, which features old maps of Bulgarian territories dating from the antiquity through the last century, was presented to the participants of the international conference entitled “The Role of Czech Intelligentsia in post-Liberation Bulgaria’s Social Life”, that took place on October 6-7.
The collection has been compiled for several decades by Mr. Simeon Simov, MD, a a Bulgarian national who lived for a long time in Hamburg, Germany. Its is a one of a kind proof of the European identity of Bulgarians presenting written and artistic works preserved in Western Europe that give an account of Bulgaria’s historical fate and the interest European researchers took in our country. Among those researchers are whole dynasties of cartographers, publishers and engravers, the most prominent of whom are Sebastian Münster and Gerardus Mercator.
The collection of old maps was donated to the Bulgarian state. The exhibition, which features some of the best exhibits from the collection, was commissioned by the State Institute of Culture at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was carried out by the General Archives Administration.