THE OPENING OF THE “CYRILLIC ALPHABET” EXHIBITION IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT CAUSED GREAT INTEREST

The opening of the “Cyrillic alphabet” exhibition in the European Parliament (EP) aroused great interest. It was presented on the initiative of the Bulgarian MEP Atanas Paparizov and the Delegation of Bulgarian Socialists in the EP.

The opening of the exhibition was preceded by a lecture and discussion led by professor Aksinia Jurova – special guest of the event, dedicated to the theme of “Multilinguistics and the intercultural dialogue – the message of the Cyrillic alphabet to Europe”. Professor Jurova presented before the audience a short retrospective of the formation processes of European scripts and the great contribution of the Cyrillic script to the enrichment of the European cultural heritage.

Atanas Paparizov, head of the Delegation of Bulgarian Socialists in the EP, opened the exhibition and expressed his gratitude to all who have contributed to the realization and presentation of the event in the European Parliament.

A special guest of the exhibition was the leader of the Group of the Party of European Socialists (PES) in the EP Mr. Martin Schultz who welcomed the guests of the event and the authors of the paintings.

“The contribution of the Cyrillic alphabet to the cultural diversity and the intercultural dialogue in Europe as well as to the European linguistic heritage is of essential importance” emphasized Mr. Martin Schultz.

The leader of the European Socialists paid considerable attention to the different artistic styles presented in the thirty canvasses and greeted the organizers of the exhibition for their initiative as well as the authors of the paintings who attended the opening as visitors from Bulgaria invited by Mr. Atanas Paparizov.

“All who are interested in Bulgarian history know that Sofia is a city with famous historical sites but Plovdiv is the true cultural capital of Bulgaria” highlighted Mr. Martin Schultz.
The Governor of Plovdiv district Mr. Todor Petkov, as one of the promoters of the exhibition, gave an overview before those present of how the idea for this event was born and what is its ideological message.

“All thirty paintings present one general work of art – the Cyrillic alphabet. Not a single canvass may be sold or separated from the rest in another way just like not a single letter from our alphabet may be extracted from the rest” said Mr. Todor Petkov. He expressed special thanks to Mr. Atanas Paparizov and Mrs. Ludmila Dimitrova, director of the State Institute for Culture at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, with whose cooperation this exhibition was realized “due to whom the exposition starts its European tour exactly from here – the European Parliament”.

At the exhibition were also present Bulgarian and European MEPs, diplomats, representatives of the Embassy of Bulgaria in Belgium, the Permanent Representation of Bulgaria to the European Union, Bulgarian cultural figures, who live and wok in Belgium, representatives of the Belgium business circles, the Belgium administration and journalists.

The Cyrillic Alphabet project is realized as a part of the National Program for Marking of the Bulgarian Accession to the EU. The program has been developed from the idea of the District Administration – Plovdiv and represents thirty canvasses in 90/90 cm size. The allocation of separate letters has been decided by lot among the painters.

The thirty canvasses by Plovdiv painters shall be exhibited until April 18, 2008 on the 3rd floor of the ASP Building in the EP.