Opening of the Mobile Exhibition "Croats and Bulgarians through the Ages" at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the Occasion of the Day of the Diplomatic Service
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On the occasion of 145 years since the establishment of the Day of the Diplomatic Service, which is celebrated on July 19, the new mobile exhibition "Croats and Bulgarians through the Ages. Cultural diplomacy and inter-academic cooperation/ Hrvati i Bugari kroz stoljeća. Kulturna diplomacija i međuakademska suradnja" was opened in the lobby of the 7th floor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria.
The exhibition "Croats and Bulgarians through the centuries. Cultural diplomacy and inter-academic cooperation/ Hrvati i Bugari kroz stoljeća. Kulturna diplomacija i međuakademska suradnja" was prepared by a scientific team of the Institute of Balkan Studies with the Center for Tracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in implementation of the project "Cultural Diplomacy in the Balkans in the 20th and 21st Centuries: Achievements, Problems, Challenges for the Future", financed by "Scientific Research" Fund of the Ministry of Education. It is presented in partnership with the State Institute for Culture of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Croatia in Bulgaria.
The opening was attended by guests and diplomats, the ambassador of the Republic of Croatia H.E. Ms. Jasna Ognjanovac, Deputy Minister Maria Angelieva, Director of the State Institute for Culture of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Snezhana Joveva-Dimitrova, Prof. Rumyana Preshlenova - Director of the Institute of Balkan Studies with the Center for Tracology at the BAS, Ch. assistant Dr. Alexandra Milanova, from IBCT-BAS.
Ms. Joveva-Dimitrova welcomed the guests and emphasized: "On the eve of the Day of Diplomacy, we are happy to host an interesting and richly informative exhibition about Bulgarian-Croatian relations. It shows how much we can achieve when we work together to accomplish common goals in the field of cultural diplomacy." The Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia H.E. Ms. Jasna Ognjanovac, for her part, shared: "The exhibition is a symbol of our long-standing friendship and cooperation. Cultural diplomacy is the bridge that connects us and enriches our mutual understanding and respect." Deputy Minister Angelieva thanked for the opportunity to visit the exhibition at the ministry and expressed her belief that such cultural projects are of extreme importance for diplomacy and the education of the young generation . The scientific leader of the project ch. assistant Dr. Alexandra Milanova also thanked for the interest in the exhibition and the excellent partnership with the State Institute for Culture and added that "it is an expression of the desire to share the cultural heritage and affirm cultural diplomacy as a means of peace and understanding - the fruit of hard work and a true partnership.”
The exhibition presents original results of the long-standing successful partnership between the Department of Historical Sciences and the Institute for the History of Croatian Literature, Theater and Music at the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts and the Institute of Balkan Studies with the Center for Tracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. It is composed of 16 panels, each containing a QR code providing full access to the materials of the conferences held in Bulgaria and Croatia from 1998 until now. The exhibition reveals important aspects of Bulgarian-Croatian relations over the centuries, the contribution of both peoples to the cultural diversity of the Old Continent and their role in the formation of a common European identity.
The exhibition was arranged at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the occasion of July 19 - the Day of Diplomacy, approved by a resolution of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nadezhda Mihailova, dated July 21, 1999. With Decree 23 of July 17, 1879, as dictated by the First Bulgarian Constitution - the Tarnovo Constitution, a central state institution was created for the first time to organize, manage and conduct Bulgaria's foreign policy through a diplomatic representation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Confessions. Marko Balabanov was appointed as minister, and with a decree of Prince Alexander I Battenberg of July 19, 1879, the first Bulgarian diplomatic representatives abroad were appointed - Dr. Dimitar Kirovich as diplomatic agent in Belgrade, Dragan Tsankov in Istanbul and Evlogi Georgiev in Bucharest. The first countries with which our country entered into diplomatic relations that same year were Russia, Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Belgium, Serbia, Romania and Turkey.