On July 2 and 3, 2020, Consortium of the National Interdisciplinary Research E-Infrastructure for Resources and Technologies for the Bulgarian Language and Cultural Heritage, integrated within the European Infrastructures CLARIN-ERIC and DARIAH (CLADA-BG) organized a meeting, which took place at the Ivan Vazov National Library in Plovdiv. Current construction of the infrastructure, results achievedand planned activities by the end of the year have been discussed during the meeting.

The partners in CLaDA-BG gave open to the public presentations on the following topics: building a Bulgarian knowledge network (semantic methodology, language technologies, neural networks, annotation software environment, historical perspective); OCR models for Bulgarian spelling texts before the 1945 reform; three-dimensional digital models; digitization of ethnographic materials; bibliographic data in the humanities; augmented reality in galleries and museums.

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2020 marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of the distinguished Bulgarian historian, epigraph and philologist Prof. Dr. Vesselin Beshevliev, Corresponding Member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, who is one of the founders of the Institute of Balkan Studies. On this occasion, IBSCT–BAS organizes a virtual exhibition, which includes unknown documents, photos and materials from the personal archives of the scholar. The exhibition presents interesting facts from the life of Prof. Vesselin Beshevliev, including his education, professional development and scholarly contributions.

The exhibition is available here (audio and video).

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We are pleased to invite you to the presentation of the bilingual collective volume "The Egyptian cults in Serdica". The event will be held on June 30, 2020 (Tuesday) at 16h00 in the yard of the Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology – BAS, located on Moskovska Street No. 45.

We are looking forward to welcoming you.

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On June 12, 2020,  the official opening of the exhibition "The City of the Balkans: Spaces, Images, Memory in Postcards" took place in the Tsar Simeon's Garden - the Fountain Demeter Alley. This new edition of the exhibition is orgnized by the Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in cooperation with the Municipality of Plovdiv and Plovdiv University Paisii Hilendarski under the National Research Program Cultural Historical Heritage, National Memory and Social Development, funded by the Ministry of Education and Science.

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On June 10, 2020, the official opening of the exhibition "MAN-NATURE-CULTURE: ANCIENT THRACE AND MEDIEVAL BULGARIA" took place in the Ancient Cultural and Communication Complex "Serdika", Largo Zone, located under the Independence Square. The exhibition is organized by the Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in cooperation with the Regional History Museum - Sofia. The authors of the exhibition are Prof. Dr. habil. Valeria Fol and Assist. Prof. Dr. Ruzha Popova from the IBSCT–BAS, and Assist. Prof. Dr. Oleg Konstantinov from the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski ”. The exhibition is presented under the Distributed Research Infrastructure INFRAMAT (part of the National Roadmap for Research Infrastructure), supported by contract D01-155 / 28.08.2018 of the Ministry of Education and Science.

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The Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences organizes new edition of the exhibition The City in the Balkans: Spaces, Faces, Memory in Postcards. IBSCT–BAS will present the exhibition in the Tsar Simeon's Garden - the Fountain Demeter Alley in Plovdiv from the 12th to the 26th of June 2020.

This edition of the exhibition is carried out in partnership with the Municipality of Plovdiv and Plovdiv University Paisii Hilendarski under the National Research Program Cultural Historical Heritage, National Memory and Social Development, funded by the Ministry of Education and Science.

Postcards from the late 19th century to the beginning of the digital age show the cultural diversity of Bulgarian and a number of Balkan cities. The exhibition represents symbolic spaces that shape the image of the Balkans in the course of the modern history. It shows how ancient and medieval architectural heritage is inscribed into the urban environment of modern towns.

The official opening of the event is on June 12, 2020 (Friday) at 18h00.

The exhibition "Man - Nature - Culture: Ancient Thrace and Medieval Bulgaria" will be officially opened on June 20, 2020 (Wednesday) at 15h00 at the Largo of Sofia.

The photo exhibition was prepared by the Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and represents the connection of ancient and medieval man with nature and its transformation into a culture of existence. This connection is visible in a number of immovable and movable cultural values ​​from Antiquity and the Middle Ages preserved to this day. Through the historical facts and the metaphorical figurative language of the ancient and medieval monuments the general vision and the detailed expression of the ideas about the world and about the place of the man and the deities in it are revealed. The attractive posters present the Sveshtari and Kazanlak tombs, the Madara horseman, the Boyana church, the Ivanovo rock monasteries - monuments that are included in the UNESCO list of world cultural heritage.

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The bilingual collective volume "The Egyptian cults in Serdica" is coming out soon as a result of a project implemented by the Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology "Prof. Alexander Fol" at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IBSCT-BAS) in cooperation with the French Institute in Bulgaria. It includes 5 articles that trace the spread of Egyptian cults in the Greco-Roman world, their appearance in Hellenistic Thrace and their implantation in the ancient Roman city of Serdica. Its chronological framework covers the period from the beginning of the Hellenistic period (i.e. the end of the 4th - beginning of the 3rd century BC) to the end of the Roman Empire (4th century AD). The authors are experts in different academic areas, including historians, numismatists and archaeologists:

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The Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology published the collective volume "Culture of Travel in the European Southeast". Compiler and editor: Antoaneta Balcheva. Editorial Board: Elena Supur, Croatia Hrvojka Mihanović - Salopek, Hristina Marcu. Sofia: ed. of IBSCT, 2020, 536 pages, ISBN: 978-619-7179-13-2.

The book is a result of a large-scale scholarly project implemented by the Department "Cultural History of the Balkan Nations". The edition includes 33 papers and articles by distinguished Bulgarian and foreign researchers. The publication incites the consideration of new aspects of travelling and travel related literature in the Balkans, which is susceptible to changing socio-historical and cultural-aesthetic models, reflecting both the philosophical moods of the time and current notions of travel, adventure, searching, self-affirmation and self-construction.

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On May 12, 1972, by Order № 185 of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria, the Institute of Thracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences was established with a founding director Prof. Dr. habil. Alexander Fol. According to this Order, the institute started its activities on May 15, 1972. Therefore, the anniversary of the institute is being celebrated between these two important dates. The decision was initiated by a group of extremely talented generation of young scientists, such as: Prof. Alexander Fol, Acad. Vladimir Georgiev, Prof. Velizar Velkov, Prof. Georgi Mihailov, Prof. Ivan Venedikov, Prof. Hristo Danov, Prof. Vasilka Tapkova-Zaimova, Prof. Zlatozara Gocheva.

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The documentary "Ancient Thrace - A Door to Immortality" was created under the project "Monitoring of Ancient Cultural Monuments in Bulgaria on the Internet", funded by NET Heritage and implemented by the Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology "Prof. Alexander Fol" at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IBSCT-BAS).

The documentary was made by Prof. Valeria Fol, Dr. habil. and Assist. Prof. Ruzha Popova, PhD from the IBSCT-BAS, Marin Karavelov - Operator and Director, and Alexandra Fol, PhD - Music.

The documentary is available here.

The project “Thessaloniki and the Bulgarians: History, Memory, Present” funded by the Bulgarian Science Fund is the first to be honored in the new section of the Fund called "Successes and achievements".

The significant scientific results and achievements of the team, led by Assoc. Prof. Yura Konstantinova, Dr. habil. from the IBSCT-BAS, are:

• The project offers new perspective on the history of Bulgarians and Greeks beyond nationalist tendencies;
• It allows the descendants of Thessaloniki families to accept their painful past and to reconcile with it;
• Its sight to present day illustrates the intense exchange between Bulgarian and Greek communities, which is at stake in overcoming the existing prejudices on both sides of the border;

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