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.

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 of the Republic of Bulgaria. 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 will be on display until November 7, 2022 at the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Budapest (Andrassy Blvd. No. 14).