Изпълнителният директор на Исторически парк гост в Bulgaria On Air

The Greatness of the Alphabet is our next topic. On May 1, the grand opening of the largest exhibition on historical painting took place. More than 300 artists from 20 different countries around the world at the same time immortalized this memorable episode of Bulgarian history on their canvas. This is said by the organizers of the exhibition from the Historic Park. Now in the studio is Evelin Mihalov, chief executive director and ideologue of the Historic Park, who will tell us about the project for the Bulgarian Alphabet and its spread around the world. Good morning. Tell us a little more about this exhibition. This is the second similar one, which is related to a given historical period. Exactly. We decided to incorporate a little visual art on the subject of Bulgarian history, because, as we know, not a century of our history has been created in this direction, not a material basis has been created to show us what our culture, our ancestors looked like. Everything is created by them. And for this reason we have fewer works from this period. We can even say that we have one or two artists who have painted on this subject. And we decided to make such contests with which to collect material. This was done years ago by the emperors who wanted their countries to spread out in some way so that there could be a greater cultural reach to the people. Last year we made an exhibition on the subject of early medieval Bulgaria, and this year we decided to make a subject about something that can be said to be one of the indicators of the huge influence of Bulgarian culture on the world years ago. Why do I say huge influence? Nowadays we all know English in some way because of the spread of the Internet and computers. Or, when a nation manages to make a technical achievement that is significant for others, they inevitably start learning its language, not by force, but by desire, even in competitions. And this was the Bulgarian alphabet, which has reached the point where over 300 million people write on it. Or this is the cultural influence of the Bulgarians without the Internet, and it remained for 1200 years after the creation of the alphabet. You yourself say that there are not many paintings from that time. Let's talk about authenticity. How do we know that what people are going to see in this exhibition was really the way people were dressed, in this way, were there specific achievements or details? Because there are two sciences. One we know is more manipulative and serves the interests of politicians more. This is history. The other one is archeology. Archeology is the more accurate science in which everything is based only on the found finds. In the case of archeological finds, there are many wall paintings, many books. In churches there are also other scenes. There are many clothes and weapons found in certain places. And when there are many of these finds, then it is already known that these are the clothes that are characteristic for this area, the weapons that are characteristic for this area, the vessels that are characteristic for this area. And even one of the members of the jury is an archeologist. This is Professor Margarita Vaklinova. Because we rely a lot on archeology, and from there we get a lot of data about exactly how the buildings looked like, how exactly it was written, how people were dressed, every single detail. And we make all these things worthy of the artists, so that when they draw something, it becomes historically authentic. And here I just want to mention, because Leonardo da Vinci's Secret Party is a very famous painting, but it is not historically valid. Because then there were no such studies about how people were during the Secret Party. And despite everything, it is very liked and respected all over the world, and shown everywhere. While with us, we have one step up. This is always the idea. With art, you have to improve, you have to learn something and add something. Or the paintings of these artists, they are truly authentic, and they can be a machine of time, which can transfer their observations, not only as art, but also as authenticity. Who are the other members of the jury? What are the criteria, which will glorify the first prize? We decided in the jury to have one artist, one archeologist and one artist. Professor Aksinya Djurova, who is our best connoisseur, not only in Bulgaria and the world, of the Bulgarian alphabet. Andrei Ianev is an artist, who evaluates, and Professor Margarita Vaklinova is an archeologist. But we also did one more thing. Because very often, art is understood only by people who are specialists. And when art does not reach the ordinary person, he loses his meaning. Because in fact, art is the magic wand with which a person becomes a person from an animal. And for this reason, we decided that half of the power of the voice should be of the people. Or the other half of the jury are the people, the viewers, who see the paintings and evaluate them. And for this reason, we have an art, which reaches the people and at the same time is understood by the people who understand the art of specialists. Why do we have such paintings? Why do we have this exhibition? What gives us, what makes us better? I will tell you one thing that I have noticed in my life. Now I am 43 years old, I work very actively, I have toured the whole world, always at work. And what I have noticed is that people who have self-esteem succeed in the world. By self-esteem, we do not mean the people above, but those who have a sincere idea of ​​themselves, that they are strong, that they can create and go to others not to steal, not to ask, but to contribute. These are the best people in the world who make the world develop. Despite the efforts of everyone else. And when a person has sincere self-respect, when he knows his worth, he can be a worthy person who contributes. These exhibitions, everything we do, help Bulgarians to be people who respect themselves. And when they go abroad, they should look like this. What can I contribute? To discover the potential in myself. Not to be humble and say, I am so insignificant that I can not do anything. Or now for five euros I am ready to sell my soul. But to be a person who does things with faith, with heart, and to create beauty and to make the world a better place. This is something that is mainly achieved with goals, with history, with beautiful places, with drawing, with culture. There are over 300 artists, over 300 artists. I know that some of them are children, some of them are adults. What can I explain? This is a serious number. The topic itself, the Bulgarian alphabet, which is known as the Slavic alphabet in the world, the Bulgarian and the Slavic is a very interesting topic for people from all over the world. Because thanks to this alphabet there are things without which the modern world would not be like this. Steve Jobs was a wise man who studied calligraphy in education, which later helped him to make the miracles he did. And he says, you connect the dots, but only when you look ahead you understand how each dot somehow made it possible for you to achieve these miracles. And the Bulgarian alphabet helped the world to get here. How? Because it is transmitted. At some point it is not only with us. It does work in other places. For example, with the Russians, with whom the Old Bulgarian and the Old Russian language are the same. There we can see what names some scientists have, what discoveries have been made so that the world can continue forward. If they had not made them, we would not be in this position. When we connect the dots, we will see that our alphabet is actually one of the structural elements of the world to be what it is. And even if we can fight the coronavirus now, let's do something that depends on us and not just be a victim. How many countries do we have participants? We have participants in over 20 countries. The farthest is Australia. By the way, when we talked about authenticity, the Australian perfectly knows the Bulgarian history, perfectly knows the weapon, the clothing. Why? It is interesting, but not really, with deep knowledge. She is not a descendant of a Bulgarian or married to a Bulgarian? No, she is from the whole of Australia. These are so many additional stories. Now let's talk about the awarding for the 24th of May. On the 24th of May will be the awarding. The jury has already said their vote. From here we are waiting for the audience to speak and then we will sum up the total votes of the jury and the audience and we will draw the final winners. But there is a really beautiful crowd. Is there already a desire for someone to buy a painting from the exhibits? By the way, more than 70% of the paintings are already bought. This is a big help for the artists because they don't have to wait for government or European help. They can make money with what they do and it will stay forever. They connect with clients who will buy paintings from them. The exhibition gave the artists a chance to make money and to develop their art and to satisfy many clients. The Bulgarian alphabet and its spread all over the world. We talked with Ivan Mihail in an interesting exhibition of historical painting on the 24th of May. When will the exhibition start? Until May 31st. We will leave it until May 31st. We can see it there.