On the Occasion of the Month of the National Leaders, the Mission Gallery hosts the exhibition "The Way of St. Cyril and Methodius"
The exhibition "The Way of Cyril and Methodius" was created by the Cyril and Methodius Research Center at Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in support of the certification of the "Cultural Route of Cyril and Methodius" within the program "The Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe", which aims to show by traveling through space and time how the heritage of individual European countries contributes to the delineation of a common cultural heritage. This program is a channel for intercultural dialogue and supports a better knowledge and understanding of European cultural identity together with the preservation and restoration of natural and cultural heritage.
Equal apostles, first teachers of the Slavs, compilers of the first Slavic alphabet, fathers of Slavic literature - these are the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius. Their work is a civilizational phenomenon that united Slavdom to European Christianity. The homage to this work is one of the remarkable phenomena in the cultural tradition of much of the European continent, which became pan-European when in 1980 Pope John Paul II declared Cyril and Methodius co-patrons of Europe.
The Thessalonian Brethren are a millennial symbol of spirituality, whose cult has been appropriated in different ways, in different eras by different peoples as part of their efforts for independence and recognition. Today, it is not only a tool to support national self-awareness, but also a symbol of cohesion and the sharing of European values in Europe and beyond. The posters mark only some of the turning points in the work of the First Teachers and their followers, as well as places symbolic of their memory - as we know them from the historical sources for their work and from the testimonies of the Cyril and Methodius tradition accumulated in the course of time. The most significant monuments of Slavic literature, religious centers, works of art are also shown. All this has a huge potential to explain the Cyril and Methodius cultural heritage as a common phenomenon of European importance, suggesting religious tolerance, intellectual equality and understanding of European cultural history and identity.
The exhibition is funded by the Bulgarian National Scientific Program "Cultural and Historical Heritage, National Memory and Social Development" and the project BG05M2OP001-1.001-0001 "Building and developing a Center of Excellence" Heritage BG ". Its authors are Slavia Burlieva (concept and text) and Stoyan Bundjulov (artistic design). It is presented with the support of the State Institute for Culture at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria.