On the occasion of October 19 - the feast of Saint Joan of Rila, which since 2016 is also celebrated as the Day of Bulgarian-Hungarian Friendship, His Excellency Christo Polendakov, Ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Republic of Bulgaria to Hungary, Mr. Plamen Peykov, Director of the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Budapest and Assist. Prof. Alexandra Milanova, PhD, academic coordinator of the IBSCT-BAS, opened the exhibition The Heart of Bulgaria. Masterpieces from the Rila Monastery. Guests of the event were the Apostolic nuncio, Ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Holy See and doyen of the diplomatic corps in Hungary, the Ambassadors of Greece, Georgia, Mexico and Ecuador, representatives of the National Assembly of Hungary, members of the board of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church "St. St. Cyril and Methodius" in Budapest, members of the Hungarian-Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce, scholars and citizens, friends of Bulgaria.

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The Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Budapest are pleased to present the exhibition The Heart of Bulgaria. Masterpieces from the Rila Monastery. The official opening will take place on October 13, 2022 (Thursday), at 18h00 at the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Budapest, Andrashi Blvd. No. 14. is also celebrated as Bulgarian-Hungarian Friendship Day. The event is organized in relation to the the feast of Saint Joan of Rila on October 19, which since 2016 is also celebrated as the Day of Bulgarian-Hungarian Friendship.

The exhibition The Heart of Bulgaria. Masterpieces from the Rila Monastery is designed by a team of the Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences under the National Research Program Cultural Historical Heritage, National Memory and Social Development, funded by the Ministry of Education and Science. The exhibition is blessed by the Abbot of the Rila Holy Monastery and is organized in cooperation with the State Cultural Institute to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria, the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria in Budapest and the National Commission of Bulgaria for UNESCO at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria.

The exhibition presents masterpieces from the Rila Monastery, the oldest institution in Bulgaria. The monastery, whose significance far exceeds the Balkans, has been a cultural center and a treasury of Orthodox Christianity for more than a thousand years. The Rila Monastery is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List and is one of the symbols of Bulgaria.

При засилен интерес от страна на хърватската и българска академична общност премина двудневната международна научна конференция „Хървати и българи. Дипломация, политика, култура и наука“ в гр. Загреб на 28–30 септември 2022 г. Научният форум бе посветен на две важни годишнини – 25-годиини от установяването на научното сътрудничество между Българската академия на науките и Хърватската академия на науките и изкуствата и 30-години от установяването на  дипломатическите отношения между Република България и Република Хърватия.

В програмата на конференцията бе застъпена многообразна проблематика, обхващаща актуални въпроси из областта на историята, културата, дипломацията и литературознанието. Обособени бяха четири отделни панела, оформени на тематичен и хронологически принцип.

Посланикът на Република България в Загреб Генка Георгиева запозна аудиторията с ролята на България в международното признаване на независимостта на Хърватия  след отделянето на страната от Югославия през 1992 г. Нейният доклад бе допълнен от изследването на д-р Бисер Банчев от ИБЦТ при БАН, в което се използват нови архивни материали от Министерството на външните работи по същата тема.

Една от целите на научния форум бе да се хвърли повече светлина върху досегашните проучвания за характера, типологията и развитието на контактите между хървати и българи през различни исторически периоди, с акцент върху времето на модернизационните процеси и формирането на гражданско общество (XIX и XX век).

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On October 2, 2022, Todor Chobanov, PhD affiliated with the Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and lecturer at the University of Library Studies and Information Technologies was a guest in the program "Operation History" on the Bulgaria ON AIR Television. The topic was "Following the missing bones. Where the great Bulgarian rulers are buried?".

A full recording of the show is available here.

The Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences is pleased to invite you to the lecture of Assoc. Prof. Yura Toteva Konstantinova, Dr. habil. (IBSCT-BAS) "Russia in Zafir Saroglu's Testament: Regional, National and Imperial Aspects".

The event is organised under the initiative Every Second Tuesday and will be held on October 11, 2022 (Tuesday) at 17h00 at the IBSCT-BAS (Moskovska Street No. 45).

We are looking forward to welcoming you!

The lecture is organized under the project "Vectors of historical development and national identity in the Balkans (18th - 21st centuries)", funded by the Bulgarian National Science Fund, contract No. КП-06-Русия/19.

The Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Tracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in cooperation with the French Institute in Sofia organize an international conference Impact et réception de la culture française dans les Balkans (XIXe – XXe siècles) / French culture in the Balkans (19th - 20th centuries) - interrelations and reception. The event will be held on October 6 and 7, 2022 in Slaveykov Hall, French Institute in Bulgaria (Slaveykov Square No. 3, Sofia 1000) and at the Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Tracology (Moskovska Street No. 45, Sofia 1000).

The programme is organized aroung the following main topics:

• Ottoman Reforms and French Diplomacy in the Balkans: World War I and the establishment of the French Institute in Sofia (1922)
• Selected pages of diplomatic and cultural history
• Diplomatic missions and francophone education
• Memoirs, memories
• The adventures of French literature in Bulgaria

PROGRAMME

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The Institute for Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Wunderkammer Publishers are pleased to invite you to the presentation of the new book by Kalin Yordanov, PhD "The Prince of Philippopolis: The Unknown Despotes Alexios Slav in the Light of New Sources and Discoveries". The event will be held on October 4, 2022 (Tuesday) at 17.30 at the Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Tracology, Moskovska Street No. 45.

Kalin Yordanov's second monograph sheds new light on the origins, the pedigree, the personality and the demise of the famous independent Bulgarian ruler Despotes Alexios Slav, and illuminates the unknown aspects of the history of his relations with the Latin Empire of Constantinople, the Neo-Byzantine state of Epirus and the Second Bulgarian Empire. The book reveals hitherto unknown facts about the genealogy, the lineage the descent, and the knightly initiation and the coat of arms of the distinguished Bulgarian nobleman of the Assenid family and vassal of the Latin Emperor Henri of Flanders. The book sheds new light on the genesis, the boundaries and the demise of his vast autonomous territorial principality, encompassing the lands of the Rhodope Mountains, the region of Philippopolis and Eastern Macedonia.

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On September 28-30, 2022, an international conference "Croats and Bulgarians. Diplomacy, Politics, Culture and Science" will be held. The scholarly forum is dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the establishment of scientific cooperation between the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts and to the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Bulgaria and the Republic of Croatia. Eight scholars affiliated with the IBSCT-BAS from a total of 28 participants will attend the event. Among the other participants will be representatives of the two academies and related scholarly institutions, e. g. Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, University of Zagreb, museums, etc. Organizers of the conference are the Department of Historical Sciences at HAZU, the Scientific Council for the Study of Relations between Croatia and Southeast Europe in a Historical Perspective, the Bulgarian Embassy in the Republic of Croatia and the Croatian-Bulgarian Society in Zagreb together with the Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Tracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

A congratulatory speech will be given to the participants by the chairman of HANI, Academician Velimir Naidhard, Academician Josip Bratulich, Prof. Damir Karbich, PhD, Prof. Svetlozar Eldarov, Dr. habil. and Assoc. Prof. Antoaneta Balcheva, PhD (IBSCT-BAS). The conference will be opened with plenary papers of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Bulgaria to the Republic of Croatia Genka Georgieva and the Director of the Department of Historical Sciences at the HAZU Prof. Damir Karbich, PhD.

Following a long established tradition of bilateral cooperation, scholars affiliated with the Department of Historical Sciences at HAZU and their Bulgarian partners included in two academic projects of the IBSCT-BAS "Society, state and church of Bulgarians and Croats over the centuries" and "Bulgarian and Croatian cultural routes in Southeast Europe. Intersections and interactions" and Interactions" are expected to prepare conference proceedings.

PROGRAMME

The Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Tracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and DA Poetry Publishing House with the support of the literary network "Traduki" are pleased to invite you to the CROATIAN POETRY MATINEE on September 24, 2022 at 10.30 at the Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Tracology (Moskovska Street No. 45).
Poets Ivan Herceg, Zvezdana Yembrich, Kristina Shpiranec and translators Simona Kruchmarova and Antonina Mitkova will take part in the event. Hosts: Silvia Choleva and Lyudmila Mindova.

We are looking forward to welcoming you!

The Sofia Library, DA Poetry Publishing House, the Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Tracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and "Conversations on Literature and the Peninsula" with the support of the "Traduki" Foundation are pleased to invite you on September 21, 2022 at 18.30 at the Sofia Library Club. Anthology of contemporary Bulgarian poetry "ON THE LAST FLOOR OF HEAVEN" (Zagreb, 2022) in memory of Marin Bodakov will be presented. Host: Petar Chuhov, with the participation of Ivan Herceg, Zornitsa Hristova, Stefan Ivanov, Silvia Choleva, Lyudmila Mindova.

We are looking forward to welcoming you!

The Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Tracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences is pleased to invite you to the presentation of the project LABedia: encyclopedia of Late Antiquity in the Balkans. A series of events will be held from September 9 to 14, 2022 in the city of Sofia. Information about the events can be found in the program presented below.

PROGRAMME

From September 5 to 7, 2022, the Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Tracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences presented the LABedia project: an encyclopedia of Late Antiquity in the Balkans. A series of events were organized in cooperation with the Regional History Museum - Silistra and the Regional History Museum in Dobrich, and were held in the cities of Silistra, Dobrich and Shoumen. Residents and guests of the cities were shown different methods of using medieval swords and battle bows. The participants of the events had the opportunity not only to observe, but also to participate in the "combat" with swords and archery. In the city of Shumen, experiments were made to prove or disprove the methods of transmitting commands in the heat of battle described by medieval authors.

In all cities, the practical part was followed by a scholarly one. After the presentation of the LABedia project by its Project Manager, Assoc. Prof. Zlatomira Gerdzhikova, PhD the participants in the wokshop "Military Affairs and Armament in Antiquity and the Middle Ages" gave short lectures presenting their scholarly interests. Assist. Prof. Mario Filipov, PhD delivered the lecture "The sword in the European fencing tradition in the 12th - 15th centuries", Nikolay Zhelev, PhD Student presented the topic "The Byzantine cavalry between Preslav and Druster", and Borislav Pavlov gave lecture "The horseman and the treasure. A comparative analysis of the realia from the Madara rock relief and the treasure from Malaya Pereshtepina".

Presentation of the project will continue in the city of Sofia from September 9 to 14, 2022.

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