The Exhibition "Miraculous Icons and Holy Relics of the Balkans" Will be Presented in Warsaw
On May 13, 2024, the phototype exhibition from the program of the State Institute for Culture "Miraculous Icons and Holy Relics of the Balkans" will be opened at the Warsaw Public Library/Main Library of Masovian Voivodeship. The event will take place within the framework of "Europe Week" in Warsaw, initiated by the Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium, within the framework of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU. The exhibition is organized with the support of the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Poland. The exposition has been completely translated into Polish and will last until May 28, which will allow tens of thousands of visitors to Warsaw's largest library to see it.
The mobile phototype exhibition from the program of the State Institute for Culture under the Minister of Foreign Affairs was realized jointly with the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies "Prof. Ivan Duychev" at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski". Icons are one of the emblems of Orthodoxy and an inalienable part of the decoration of the Christian temple since ancient times. 24 panels show churches and monasteries where miraculous icons and holy relics are kept as precious relics.
The exhibition uses photos from the archive of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies "Prof. Ivan Duichev" at the University of St. Kliment Ohridksi and photos provided with the courtesy of the abbots of the Rila, Bachkovo, Troyan and Bigor monasteries. The history of each monastery, the legendary biography of each miraculous icon and the customs associated with the temple holidays and the holidays of the saints, whose relics are kept in them, are briefly described. A unique narrative is unfolding before our eyes, which bridges the ages and presents the challenge of living faith in miraculous images, in their power, which is not subject to time, ideologies, theories, philosophies.
The exhibition has been internationally presented so far in Venice, Rome, Geneva, Belgrade, Skopje, Tirana, Elbasan, Pretoria, Minsk, Toronto, at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Ambrosiana Library in Milan, Charles University in Prague, and in Bulgaria - Sofia, Plovdiv, Kyustendil, Asenovgrad, Tourism Museum at UNIBIT, Pernik, Samokov, Dupnitsa etc.