29.11.207 – The exhibition “The Roerich Pact. History and modernity“ was opened at the gallery of National High School of Plastic Arts and Design named after Dechko Uzunov in Kazanlak (Bulgaria) on November 29, 2017. The exhibition was organized by the International Center of the Roerichs, the Ministry of Education and Science of Bulgaria, the International Committee for the Preservation of the Roerichs’ Heritage, National High School of Plastic Arts and Design named after Dechko Uzunov, the East-West Indological Foundation, the National Roerich Society in Bulgaria.
Kazanlak is located in the geographical center of Bulgaria and is the center of the Valley of Roses, also called the Valley of Thracian kings. Every year in June for more than a century this region, famous for rose oil production, celebrates a holiday of roses in Kazanlak. A lot of Thracian tombs, crypts and temples have been discovered on the territory of the valley. The tomb of King Seuthes III as one of the latest major findings was discovered in 2004. The Thracian culture in its heyday gave the great Teacher, that of Orpheus, to the ancient world. Orpheus brought here priceless knowledge and the beauty of art. The Thracian tomb (ІV-ІІІ centuries B.C.), also called as the Kazanlak tomb, is the most significant monument of Thracian culture in Bulgaria. It is located in the city of Kazanlak and it is the treasure-trove of ancient art masterpieces. The Kazanlak tomb is included in the list of a UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Lyudmila Zhivkova (1942-1981), a historian, a Minister of Culture, an outstanding public figure of Bulgaria, closely cooperated with Svetoslav Roerich. She was the author of an important scientific study dedicated to the Kazanlak tomb.
On the initiative of Lyudmila Zhivkova, Bulgaria in 1978 implemented a large-scale International Program “Nicholas Roerich”, in which Svetoslav Roerich took part. In one of his visits to Bulgaria in the 1980s, Svetoslav Roerich visited Kazanlak, where he got acquainted with the Rose Museum. Svetoslav Roerich met Dechko Uzunov, an outstanding Bulgarian artist who was the patron of the National School of Plastic Arts and Design in Kazanlak.
The exhibition of the International Center of the Roerichs in Kazanlak, dedicated to the Roerich Pact, as well as other exhibitions organized jointly with the Ministry of Education and Science of Bulgaria and secondary schools associated with UNESCO, is held under the patronage of the Bulgarian National Commission for UNESCO.
The exhibition was opened by the Principle of National High School of Plastic Arts and Design named after Dechko Uzunov, Mrs .Ts. Vitkova and the head of the Bulgarian branch of the International Center of the Roerichs M. Kutsarova. Mrs. Vitkova stressed the importance of the exhibition as a part of the ICR International Exhibition Project and the International Committee for the Preservation of the Roerichs’ Heritage, which began in 2012 at UNESCO, Paris. It and was held in 18 countries of Europe, Asia and America.
M.Kutzarova in her speech at the opening of the exhibition told about the enormous contribution of Nicholas Roerich to the creation of the whole international legal protection of the values of culture and people of creativity, about the Banner of Peace, created by Nicholas Roerich, the history of the Roerich Pact and the adoption of the ideas of the Treaty in Bulgaria in the 30–es of the XX century, thanks to the Bulgarian Committee for the Roerich Pact and the Bulgarian Roerich Society. She spoke about the activities of the International Center of the Roerichs, created by Svetoslav Roerich in Moscow in order to popularize and validate the ideas of the Roerich Pact in the world, which are now extremely relevant not only in view of the increasing number of armed conflicts in the world, but also because of the possible destruction of cultural objects in peaceful time. Students, teachers, as well as representatives of museums and cultural community of Kazanlak t attended the opening of the exhibition.
After the opening ceremony of the exhibition, the head of the Bulgarian branch of the ICR M.Kutsarova gave a lecture on the Roerich Pact and its initiator, the great Russian artist, scientist, thinker Nicholas Roerich. She spoke about the most important ideas of Nicholas Roerich, which were laid down in the Treaty those of World through Culture and the priority of culture in the life of people, society and an individual. She also talked about the links of Svetoslav Roerich, an outstanding Russian artist, thinker, scientist, younger son of Nicholas Roerich, with Bulgaria and, in particular, with Kazanlak. The exhibition of the ICR “The Roerich Pact. History and Modernity “ will be exhibited in Kazanlak until the end of December 2017.
(Tranlated from Russian by N. Shnaider)
