The National Gallery presents one of the most iconic figures in the history of Bulgarian art – Zahari Zograph. This first immersive exhibition introduces a new way of experiencing the masterpieces of the the museum’s collection. Harnessing new technologies, the 20-minute project, created by Senzor Studio, brings his religious and secular masterpieces to life, revealing essential elements of his creative process.
The initiative promotes Bulgarian Revival аrt, a period characterized by economic, social, and cultural growth, closely tied to the pursuit of ecclesiastical and national independence. The period traces its origins to the mid-18th century, when Paisius of Hilendar wrote Istoriya Slavyanobulgarskaya (History of the Slavs and Bulgarians) in 1762—which profoundly shaped the spiritual awakening of the population and contributed significantly to the development of national consciousness…
The exhibition features a selection of icons, drawings, copies, letters, documents, and secular portraits from the artist’s early period. It also showcases a substantive collection of murals, ranging from his earliest works—created in 1838 for the Chapel of St John the Baptist at the Church of the Holy Virgin—Annunciation in Asenovgrad—to what is considered as his “final masterpiece,” the murals adorning the narthex of the Great Lavra Monastery on Mount Athos, completed between 1851 and 1852.
Zahari Zograph emerged as a defining figure of Bulgarian Revival art. His relentlessly inquisitive artistic spirit was ahead of its era, and his extensive body of work reflects the vitality of the approaching modern age, the artistry of traditional imagery, the strength of line, and the emotive power of color.
The project is realised with the financial support of the National Culture Fund of Bulgaria under the Creation programme 2024.
Media partners: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency and SOF Connect.

National Gallery / The Palace
The National Gallery owns one of the most appreciable and representative collections of artworks by Lika Yanko (1928–2001). This became possible thanks to the donation gesture the artist made while still living. Whereas the two extensive exhibitions, held in 2002 and 2011, were based on the most comprehensive chronology possible, the current exhibition focuses attention on issues of her early oeuvre.
In choosing the title, ‘Journey to the Image’, we saw an opportunity to verbalise the two major threads in the exhibition. The first relates to the 1960s, the decade these artworks were produced. Lika Yanko was at the beginning of her career, and it was through the images of the object world that she sought her own truth about art. The second line traces the artist’s ‘journey’ into herself, where she was not alone. Spontaneously, rather like a playful act, or fully consciously as a quiet rebellion against the norms of official art, a small informal group of female artists launched into annual creative trips in the Rhodope Mountains, the environs of Melnik, Karlanovo, and other places. The party included Vanya Decheva, Dora Kancheva, Olga Valnarova, Mimi Veselinova, Kostadinka Tsvetkova, and Zheni Mehandzhiyska… We have no first-hand evidence of a common aesthetic platform of theirs, but, standing before their pictorial works, we may form, with a great deal of certainty, an impression of the moods that had overwhelmed them, and of the sources they followed.
We say all this clearly aware of the broadest outline of a problem in the history of Bulgarian art that has so far been only sketched out, without being supported by the necessary visualisation and professional commentary.
The exhibition does not claim to be exhaustive on this topic.
It only outlines the general silhouettes of names, events and artistic facts that have not been studied or analysed in detail. They inhabit those border or extreme zones removed from the official line, where absence, silence and insufficiency still dominate, but without them, the overall picture of Bulgarian art history will not be full and complete.
Curated by Nikolay Ushtavaliiski and Iva Veleva.

The National Academy of Art (NAA) and IKEA Bulgaria have joined forces in the innovative project “Reforms: Creative Design Laboratory”.  The initiative builds upon the theme of the circular economy and draws attention to sustainable design, offering an alternative interpretation of everyday objects.
The exhibition is part of the official program of the European Design Festival 2026, which brings the best of European communication design from 11 to 14 June to Sofia. Find out more here: europeandesign.org/festivals/sofia-2026
Within this year-long project, students majoring in Industrial Design, Ceramics, and Porcelain and Glass Design experimented with IKEA furniture and accessories, using them as a “raw material”. Through methods of redesign and the concept of the “ready-made”, the young creators were challenged to rethink the functionality of mass-produced products and discover ways to extend their lifespan. The result is a transformation where objects acquire a new identity, unexpected aesthetics, and a new life beyond their original function.
The exhibition shifts well-known, mass-produced objects into the realm of experimentation and critical exploration, organizing them into three main directions:
SYSTEM – marked in IKEA’s signature blue, this section explores the logic of modularity, repetition, and structural order.
DEVIATION – referencing the iconic red color of the NAA facade. Here, objects break free from the strictly functional logic of design, transforming into art pieces with a conceptual message.
EVERYDAY LIFE – the design piece sheds its pretentiousness and manifests quietly and unobtrusively, naturally becoming a part of daily routine and the feeling of home.
The project is implemented under a Memorandum of Cooperation between the NAA and IKEA Bulgaria, aimed at supporting young creators and providing a modern environment for their education. The collaboration itself began with a donation from IKEA to renovate the Academy’s studios, followed by open houses and lectures on sustainable design by company experts.
The exhibition is also part of the events celebrating the 130th anniversary of the National Academy of Art Sofia since its founding as the State Drawing School in 1896.
Curatorial Team: Gergana Minkova, Diana Vasileva, and Elizar Milev.
Supervisors: Industrial Design – Diana Vasileva, Zahari Ganchev, Denitsa Simeonova, Rangel Chipev; Porcelain and Glass Design – Elizar Milev; Ceramics – Yana Yunakova.
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.

The series titled ‘Postfactum’ presents the projects ranked second and third according to the points awarded in the national competition for Bulgaria’s participation in the 2026 Venice Art Biennale. Ideas that—although not showcased as a National Pavilion—are an essential part of the process of forming the Bulgarian presence in the most prestigious international forum for contemporary art.
The idea arises from the need for the competition for the Bulgarian Pavilion to be considered not only as a selection mechanism but also as a field for artistic debate, where different visions of contemporary art, its themes, language and social functions meet. The National Gallery draws attention to the value of the selection process itself: to the ideas, concepts, and artistic searches that fall outside the final selection, but are no less significant for our cultural milieu.
The project aims to engage the professional community and general public alike in a conversation about the role of contemporary art today, the mechanisms of cultural representation and the place of Bulgaria in the international artistic context.
“In the video installation Rehearsal, Kalin Serapionov traces the relationships between fourteen people placed within the symbolic and metaphorical space of a rehearsal room. The action unfolds without a predetermined dramaturgy or choreography.
The rehearsal is conceived as a life process that takes place in the present moment. It is simultaneously a preparation and the ultimate goal of the artwork. The participants are encouraged to observe their own reactions, guided by intuition and spontaneity. Without words, but through gestures, body language, hands that hold one another, and eyes that meet, the participants begin to communicate through slow, ritualistic movements. Their bodies form figurative compositions that tell stories of human relationships and emotions: empathy, affection, jealousy, loneliness, and anticipation. The understanding of intimacy and togetherness is conveyed through the behavior of the body.
In Rehearsal, Kalin Serapionov poses important questions to the audience. One of them is: Can we be together—truly, physically together—in a time when everyone is alone?”
Vessela Nozharova, Curator
Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.

Ivan Hristov (1900–1987), one of the most prominent masters of Bulgarian landscape painting, created hundreds of canvases reflecting the intransient in our native nature and Revivalist architecture, recreating and preserving their rich spiritual impact. He worked in this genre alongside Boris Denev, Nikola Tanev, Sirak Skitnik, Vladimir Rilski, Atanas Staykov, Danail Dechev, Pencho Georgiev, Mario Zhekov, among many others. He was a member of the Native Art Society. The painter’s oeuvre is recognisable by its rich colour palette and expressive brushstrokes. The building elements of his style are in harmony with the material power of nature. Critics responded favourably to his strong individuality and idiosyncratic painting technique. High international recognition for the artist was the Gold Medal at the 1937 Paris International Exhibition, where he showed his painting, ‘Sozopol Houses’.

Ivan Hristov’s retrospectives have been held at the Nikola Petrov Art Gallery in Vidin (2015) and the Hristo Tsokev Art Gallery in Gabrovo (2017). The current extensive exposition comprises predominantly unexhibited works owned by his heirs and by admirers of his art, as well as paintings from the collections of the National Gallery and the Plovdiv City Art Gallery.

In 1919, young Hristov enrolled in the Faculty of Law of Sofia University and concurrently attended the Academy of Arts. He chose to study painting under professors Nikola Ganushev, Nikola Marinov and Stefan Ivanov. Between 1926 and 1927, he specialised in Painting in Munich. Towards the end of his stay there, he held his first solo exhibition at the Kunstverein Gallery, where, along with portraits, he also showed several townscapes of Tryavna.

After returning to his homeland, he was appointed as teacher at the Carpentry School in Tryavna, and became one of the initiators of the foundation of a local museum preserving the masterpieces of woodcarving and iconography. He continued his intensive creative work, presenting a series of over 50 solo exhibitions not only in Bulgaria but also abroad, including the Munich Kunsthaus Brakl Gallery (1928), the Camera degli Artisti Gallery in Rome (1930), the Turin Gallery at Palazzo Carignano (1931), the Salita di Santa Caterina Gallery in Genova, La Bottega dell’Arte Gallery in Brescia, the Salon Artistiozi Sztuki I Reproductsia in Warsaw (1934), the Sala Centrala a Atensumi in Bucharest (1935), and the Berlin Gallerie von der Heyde (1938).

His works are owned by the National Gallery, the Sofia City Art Gallery, and all regional galleries; state institutions, embassies and public organisations in Bulgaria; the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest; the National Museum in Schwerin; the Anastasia Sima Museum in Bucharest; the UN, state institutions of Germany, Russia, Poland, Romania, Cuba and Hungary; the City Hall of Rome; many private collections in Bulgaria and around the world.

Bearer of high state awards and titles in the fine arts, and honorary citizen of Veliko Tarnovo and Tryavna.

Media partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.

Ballet by Mikis Theodorakis /Performance for adults/
Duration: 2:00 Intermission 1
Pancharevo Lake / next to Sredets National Rowing Base, Pancharevo Quarter, 223 Samokovsko Shosse Blvd.
Children under 6 are not admitted to adult performances!

Operas by Pietro Mascagni and Ruggero Leoncavallo /Performance for adults/
Duration 3:00 Intermission 1
St. Alexander Nevski Square Sofia Center
Children under 6 are not admitted to adult performances!
Performed in Italian

Ballet by Mikis Theodorakis /Performance for adults/
Duration: 2:00 Intermission 1
Pancharevo Lake / next to Sredets National Rowing Base, Pancharevo Quarter, 223 Samokovsko Shosse Blvd.
Children under 6 are not admitted to adult performances!

Television show for Sofia Opera and Ballet with author and presenter Miglena Stoycheva
BNT 2 - program "From the front row" Sofia, 29 San Stefano Street
Children under 6 are not admitted to adult performances!

Ballet by Mikis Theodorakis /Performance for adults/
Duration: 2:00 Intermission 1
Pancharevo Lake / next to Sredets National Rowing Base, Pancharevo Quarter, 223 Samokovsko Shosse Blvd.
Children under 6 are not admitted to adult performances!