Bulgarian Cultural Centre in Skopje

[Hatshepsut]

Bulgarian Cultural Centre in Skopje Works for Broader Cooperation


Antonia Veleva (photo from her private archive)

Website: http://bkks.org/

SKOPJE, 
13.10.2022 11:42
 (BTA)

The mission of the Bulgarian Culture and Information Centre (BCIC) in Skopje is to create conditions for broader cooperation, because the people in Bulgaria and North Macedonia are not very familiar with the cultural scene in the other country, BCIC Director Antonia Veleva said in an interview for BTA. "The pandemic and the months of lockdown showed how important culture is and how much every one of us needs it," Veleva said.

The BCIC's cultural activities have become much more vigorous during the year and a half that Veleva has been in charge. This is partly owing to the support of the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture, she said.

"Culture is one of few areas which are not marred by negative political overtones," Veleva observed.

In the space of a single month, the BCIC has been able to support the participation of Bulgarians in seven international festivals in Skopje and other places in North Macedonia. As a great achievement, Veleva singled out the participation of the Plovdiv Drama Theatre in the STOBI International Festival of Ancient Drama in Veles. Diana Dobreva, who directed the play "Ulysses" for the Plovdiv Drama Theatre, was named Best Director at the festival, and the show itself received the top award.

The participation of the Lovech Drama Theatre in the Days of Comedy in Kumanovo was also very successful. On October 5, the Lovech actors won the admiration of the audience with "Place-Hunters", written by Ivan Vazov and directed by Nikolai Urumov.

Bulgarian authors, musicians and theatre productions were presented at other festivals as well, Veleva said. "We have many events planned to take place until the end of this year and next year with the support of our Culture Ministry. The activities with which we present Bulgarian culture are very important and are appreciated both by Bulgaria and our partners in North Macedonia," she said.

She added that many Macedonian actors studied at Sofia's National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts. The links they have built serve as a bridge between the people in the two countries, according to her.

The BCIC has more joint activities on its agenda. These include a concert by the Filip Kutev Folk Ensemble and a classical music show under the baton of Emil Tabakov. The Centre expects confirmation for a grand show by operatic soprano Alexandrina Pendatchanska late in the autumn.

The new building which has been housing the BCIC since September 22 is to be inaugurated with a special event. Several exhibitions are also planned. One of them, marking 30 years of Bulgaria's recognition of North Macedonia's independence, will be held at the National Gallery in Skopje. It will be the second part of the Diplomacy and Art Project, organized together with the State Institute of Culture under the Bulgarian Foreign Minister.

The BCIC in Skopje and the Culture and Information Centre of North Macedonia in Sofia will implement an ambitious joint project later this year targeting a younger audience and involving children from the music schools in the two capitals.

"Our activities are targeted both at the general audience in North Macedonia and the Bulgarian community in the country," Veleva said, noting that the BCIC is making sure to include joint cultural events of the two countries on its agenda.

In conclusion, she expressed hope that bringing Bulgarian art home to the public in North Macedonia helps to build even more lasting relations between the people on both sides of the common border.

https://www.bta.bg/en/news/balkans/343220-bulgarian-cultural-centre-in-skopje-works-for-broader-cooperation

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New building of the Bulgarian Culture and Information Centre in Skopje officially opened

The new building of the Bulgarian Cultural Information Centre in Skopje was opened on November 25 under exceptional security measures.

The official ceremony was attended by the Ministers of Culture of Bulgaria and North Macedonia Ventsislav Minekov and Bisera Stoychevska, the EU Ambassador to the Republic of North Macedonia, David Geer, officials and Bulgarians from our south-western neighbour.

Speaking to BNT and the Bulgarian media, EU Ambassador David Geer said that the opening of such a centre is a "bridge between the two countries" and an example of how bilateral relations should be built.

He urged everyone to come and cross this bridge.

The new building of the only state Bulgarian centre in the Republic of North Macedonia was opened with an exhibition of artists from both countries and was entitled "Together".

The centre houses thousands of books, paintings and other works of art, as well as a reading room.

The grand opening of the new premises takes place days after the shooting against the Bulgarian club "Tsar Boris III" in Ohrid.

The Republic of North Macedonia also has a state cultural information centre in Sofia. According to a special agreement between the two countries, they are entitled to one centre in each country.

Images by Alexander Markov

https://bnt.bg/news/new-building-of-the-bulgarian-culture-and-information-centre-in-skopje-officially-opened-312345news.html

[Hatshepsut]

Bulgarian Cultural Centre in Skopje Pays Tribute to Four Historical Figures

13.01.2023 20:09
 (BTA)

The anniversaries of four Bulgarian historical figures were celebrated Friday by the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Cultural Information Centrе of Bulgaria in the Republic of North Macedonia.

January 14 marks the 160th birth anniversary of Bulgarian linguist, ethnographer, dialectologist and historian Lyubomir Miletich. He was President of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences from 1926 and of the Bulgarian Macedonian Scientific Institute from 1927 until his death in 1937. Miletich shared in the founding of Sofia University in 1888, said Dr Krasimira Koleva, specialist in dialectology and lecturer in Shumen University "Bishop Constantin Preslavsky". Miletich was the author of 400 books and contributed to the shaping of Modern Bulgarian. "His work on the unity of the Bulgarian language in all Bulgarian lands and its direct connection with Old Bulgarian is important and fundamental for the formation of the modern Bulgarian literary language. His personal papers were scattered during the bombing in 1944," said Dr Krasimira Koleva, specialist in dialectology and lecturer at the Constantine of Preslav University of Shumen.

Prominent Bulgarian satirist Aleko Konstantinov was born on January 1 (New Style January 13) 160 years ago. On the same date, but 145 years ago Peyo Yavorov was also born, and they both come with the symbolism of the new year. "Aleko is a special writer", said Marietta Ivanova-Girginova, Associate Professor at the Institute of Literature at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. She also discussed the specificities of Aleko Konstantinov's main work and his protagonist, Bay Ganyo.

The 145th birth anniversary of symbolist poet Peyo Yavovov was marked at the same event. "Yavorov's turbulent life, that was as short as 36 years, was marked by creativity, revolution, recognition, public condemnation, and personal tragedy," said journalist Vladimir Perev.

"Yavorov was a man and a poet of the future. His poetry marked the beginning of Bulgarian symbolism, while his revolutionary work was the logical path of every young patriot. His revolutionary maturation lasted six years, from the moment when as a 17-year-old he went to Sofia to join the Melnik Insurrection of the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee (SMAC), then got acquainted with Gotse Delchev, and finally evolved into a professional revolutionary. This was the time when the liberation idea slowly captivated the poet, displacing all other ideas and thoughts. Yavorov was a poet of the revolution. The struggle, the revolution was his escape. In his last letter to the then leader of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO), Todor Alexandrov, he wrote: 'Tell Macedonia, when you go there, that her son (I consider myself hers) will die in free Bulgaria, burdened with a heavy slander. And when Macedonia is free, have a friend come to the grave and say, "Greetings from our martyr mother - she is happy now!' His suicide was a heroic act, not an escape from reality, it was a victory of timelessness and idealism over the misery of real life," Perev said.

Philosopher Georgi Trendafilov spoke about the 95th anniversary of Mara Buneva's death on January 14.  Mara Buneva was born in Tetovo, in a family with five other siblings. Her brother initiated her in the ranks of IMRO. On January 13, 1928, on the Stone Bridge in Skopje, Mara Buneva shot the legal advisor Velimir Prelic, who was responsible for the Skopje Student Trial against members of the Macedonian Youth Secret Revolutionary Organization. She then shot herself and died of her wounds the next day. "Mara Buneva was from a generation subjected to an extremely harsh pressure by Belgrade and when everybody thought Macedonia was finished and nearly 100 Macedonian intellectuals were captured and tortured, Mara Buneva's act happened. We are the heirs of some of those who left no descendants so that we all could be their heirs," Trendafilov said.

"We pay a well-deserved tribute to a woman and three men, very different from each other, but united by a common ideal: Bulgaria. Each of them sacrificed their creativity, career, and even their life, so that today we can share their thoughts, ideas and follow in their footsteps because they were all significant figures, inspiring and respectable," the Director of the Bulgarian Cultural Center in Skopje, Antonia Veleva, said at the opening of the commemoration.

"We celebrate the anniversaries of figures, part of the common history of Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia. Figures connected with the struggles of the Bulgarians in Vardar, Aegean Macedonia and the Adrianople region. Mara Buneva was born in Tetovo and died in Skopje, Lyubomir Miletich was born in Shtip and his great-grandfather was a voivode in Adrianople, Aleko Konstantinov and Yavorov were connected with the history of the Macedonian struggles. These are key and significant figures of our culture, each of them gave with a revolver and a pen a spiritual energy that we must carry through the centuries," said Angel Angelov, Bulgarian Ambassador in North Macedonia.

https://www.bta.bg/en/news/balkans/389868-bulgarian-cultural-centre-in-skopje-pays-tribute-to-four-historical-figures-from