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.