On May 11 and 12, 2023, in the Ivan Ev. Geshov Hall of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the First National Trachology Conference "Geopolitics and Society in Ancient Thrace" was held. The event was organized by the Institute of Balkan Studies and Centre of Trachology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The conference was attended by 40 scholars from 13 scientific and cultural institutions (IBSCT-BAS, Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", South-West University "Neofit Rilski", National Science Club - UNESCO, University of Library Studies and Information Technologies, University of Veliko Turnovo St. St. Cyril and Methodius, National Archaeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Regional Archaeological Museum - Plovdiv, Trident Technical College, Regional History Museum - Yambol,Regional History Museum - Sliven, Institute of Solid State Physics at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, History Museum - Perushtitsa). They presented reports or posters on various topics from prehistory to the late antique era in the Bulgarian lands in two main areas - political development of the Thracian states and development of Thracian society and culture.

A side event of the conference was the opening of the exhibition "The pedestrian...and his companions. 90 years since the birth of Prof. Alexander Fol", dedicated to the founder of the Institute of Tracology, today Centre of Tracology "Prof. Alexander Fol". The exhibition was prepared by Assoc. Prof. Kalin Stoev, PhD and PhD student Eli Filipova with the courtesy of Prof. Valeria Fol, Dr. habil. and the support of INFRAMAT. The exhibition will be on display in the lobby of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (15 November Street No. 1) until May 24, 2023.

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On May 13, 2023, the photo documentary exhibition "The Heart of Bulgaria. Masterpieces from the Rila Monastery" was presented at the Péter Melius Juhász Library in the second largest Hungarian city - Debrecen. The exhibition was prepared by a team of the Institute of Balkan Studies and Centre of Tracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences with the blessing of the Abbot of the Rila Monastery and the courtesy of the State Cultural Institute to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria. The event was organized in cooperation with the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Budapest and was part of the official program to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Bulgarian Minority Self-Government in Debrecen.

At the opening of the exhibition, greetings were given by His Excellency Hristo Polendakov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Bulgaria to Hungary, Mr. Plamen Peykov, Director of the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Budapest, Mr. Simeon Varga, Advocate of the Bulgarian Minority Community in the Hungarian Parliament and Mr. Dancho Musev, Chairman of the Bulgarian republican self-government in Hungary. In their speech, along with congratulating the attendees, they emphasized the fact that the exhibition is shown Debrecen a few days after its presentation at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the inclusion of the Rila Monastery in the UNESCO World Heritage List .

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On May 10 to 12, 2023, the Second International Conference of the National E-infrastructure for Bulgarian Linguistic and Cultural Heritage CLaDa.BG Language Technologies and Digital Humanities: Resources and Applications (LTaDH-RA) was held in Sofia. Two researchers and a specialist from the Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences participated in the event. Assist. Prof. Dr. Ivaylo Nachev together with Prof. Kiril Simov and Dr. Zhivko Angelov (IICT) presented a joint project developed by them on the topic "Streets of Sofia". Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zlatomira Gerdzhikova presented the online encyclopedia LABedia, and Dr. Stamatia Fotiadou presented an interactive story about the role of the railway in the development of Alexandroupolis (Dedeagach).

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The project of the Institute of Balkan Studies and Centre of Thracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences "The Vocabulary of Constantine of Preslav's Uchitel'noe evangelie ('Didactic Gospel'): Old Bulgarian-Greek and Greek-Old Bulgarian Word Indices" (Contract No. № КП-06-Н50/2), led by Prof. Lora Taseva, will be presented during Sofia Science Festival.

We are looking forward to seeing you on May 12, 2023 (Friday) from 15h00 to 16h30 at the Bulgarian National Science Fund stand on level 0 in Sofia Tech Park, John Atanasov building.

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On May 16, 2023 (Tuesday) at 16h00 in the New Bulgarian University, building I, floor 4, the exhibition Egyptian Cults on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast will be opened. The exhibition is organized by the Bulgarian Institute of Egyptology and the Institute of Balkan Studies and Alexander Fol Centre of Tracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

The monuments presented in the exhibition originate from the ancient cities located on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast: Apollonia Pontica (Sozopol), Messambria (Nessebar), Anhialo (Pomorie), Odessos (Varna) and Dionysopolis (Balchik). They are divided into five sections according to their type: AMULETS, EPIGRAPHIC MONUMENTS, TERRACOTTA, BRONZE, NUMISMATICS. They are selected to illustrate the penetration of Egyptian cults into Ancient Thrace. Due to the communicative location of these cities, this penetration first took place here probably as early as the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. The earliest known monuments with Egyptian influence are the amulets found in the Greek colonies of Apollonia Pontica (Sozopol) and Mesambria (Nessebar).

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The Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IBSCT-BAS) is pleased to invite you to the public lecture of Assist. Prof. Dr. Arch. Aneta Vasileva and Assist. Prof. Dr. Arch. Emilia Kaleva (University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy) New architectural heritage.

The event is organised under the initiative Every Second Tuesday and will be held on May 16, 2023 (Tuesday) at 17:00 at the IBSCT-BAS (Moskovska Street No. 45).

We are looking forward to welcoming you!

On May 9, 2023 at 18h30, the Croatian poets Sanja Lovrenčić and Maja Ručević will be presented at the Literary Club of the Sofia City Library with the participation of the poet Ivan Herceg, who is a guest of the House of Literature and Translation in May. Bulgarian poets will also participate in the event, and two of them - Petar Chuhov and Ivan Hristov - will have their own musical performances.

Sanja Lovrenčić and Maja Ručević are guests of the Conversations of Literature and the Peninsula project of the Institute of Balkan Studies and Prof. Alexander Fol Centre of Tracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in the beginning of May 2023. Their visit and events are carried out with the assistance of the European literary network Traduki, IBSCT-BAS, DA Poetry Publishing House and the Sofia City Library.

After their presentation in the Sofia City Library on May 9, 2023 on May 10, 2023 at 16h30, the Croatian poets will be guests of the students and teachers of the Serbian and Croatian language and literature major at the Faculty of Slavic Philology of Sofia University.

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The Institute of Balkan Studies and Centre of Thracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences A. Yu Krymsky Institute of Oriental Studies at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Volodymyr Dahl East Ukrainian National University and Kharkiv State Academy of Culture organize an international scholarly conference Modern and contemporary culture: Research, heritage protection, socialization. It will be held on November 23 and 24, 2023 online via Zoom. The working languages are Bulgarian, Ukrainian and English.

Please submit your paper proposal until October 23, 2023 at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The proposal must include topic of the paper (in Bulgarian and English or in Ukrainian and English) and an abstract (up to 300 words).

Approved applications will be announced by November 1, 2023.

The conference proceedings will be published in a refereed edition after double anonymous review.

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On April 24, 2023, at the UNESCO House in Paris the photo documentary exhibition Le cœur de la Bulgarie. Exposition du monastère de Rila pour l'UNESCO / The Heart of Bulgaria. Rila Monastery Exhibition for UNESCO was opened. The exhibition is prepared by a team of the Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Tracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IBSCT-BAS) and is supported by the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science under the National Scientific Programme "Bulgarian Studies". The occasion was the 40th anniversary of the inscription of the Rila Monastery in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The official opening of the exhibition was attended by Mrs. Zornitza Grekova, Deputy Permanent Delegate of Bulgaria to UNESCO, Prof. Dr. Roumiana Il. Preshlenova, Director of the IBSCT-BAS and Assist. Prof. Dr. Alexandra Milanova, academic coordinator of the IBSCT-BAS. With the blessing of Bishop Evlogius of Adrianople, Abbot of the Rila Monastery, the Monastery was represented by Archpriest Ivan Karageorgiev - a priest from the Bulgarian Orthodox Church Municipality "Saint Patriarch Euthymius of Tarnovo" in Paris. The guest of honor at the event was Mr. Ernesto Ottone, Assistant Director-General for Culture of UNESCO, who welcomed the initiative and congratulated Bulgaria for its effective contribution to the overall work of UNESCO. Guests at the opening were representatives of the diplomatic corps in Paris, employees of the UNESCO Secretariat and the World Heritage Center, citizens and guests of the French capital.

The exhibition is organized under the patronage of the National Commission of the Republic of Bulgaria for UNESCO with the courtesy of the Rila Monastery, the Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Bulgaria to UNESCO, and the State Cultural Institute at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria.

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On April 25, 2023, Prof. Yura Konstantinova delivered the 7th Gunnar Herring lecture, organized by the Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies at the University of Vienna. Prof. Nenad Stefanov from the Humboldt University in Berlin was the respondent of the lecture, dedicated to the Bulgarian ideas about Greece and the Greeks. The event, which took place in the auditorium of the archive of the University of Vienna, was attended by members of the academic community, representatives of the embassies of Bulgaria and Greece in Austria, students and citizens.

The Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IBSCT-BAS) is pleased to invite you to the lecture of Assoc. Prof. Simeon Simeonov, PhD The Balkan odyssey of Francisco de Miranda and the birth of the idea of Latin American independence. The event is organized in pursuance to Art. 18 (17) of the Annex to the Regulations of the Scientific Council of the IBSCT-BAS regarding terms and conditions for acquiring scientific degrees and for holding academic positions.

The lecture will be held on May 2, 2023 (Tuesday) at 16:00 at the IBSCT-BAS (Moskovska Street No. 45).

We are looking forward to welcoming you!

From April 18 to 20, 2023, the Third National Annual Scholarly Conference of the Center for Excellence "Heritage BG" was held in hall 19 of the Prince's Palace. Seven researchers from the Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology participated in the event. The conference was opened by Prof. Alexandre Kostov, Dr. habil., Corresponding Member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences who deliver a report entitled "Towards the modernization of health system in the Balkans at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century: Outpatient medical care". Six more presentations of participants in the "Unknown Balkans" project treated new and poorly researched scholarly issues. Those reports were delivered by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zlatomira Gerdzhikova, Assist. Prof. Dr. Vesela Atanasova, Assist. Prof. Dr. Adriana Serbova, Assist. Prof. Dr. Samuil Kamburov, Assist. Prof. Dr. Ivaylo Nachev, and Eli Filipova, PhD student. All papers were followed by interesting and fruitful discussions.

More about the reports is available here.

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