The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

The ‘Atlantis’ exhibition is an adventure of the senses, an open door to the notion of reality and the past, a bold and dreamy inducement to encounter the unknown or the non-existent, even if only in one pictorial world.
Nina Ruseva created most of these paintings specifically for the occasion. The extreme, exciting emotional experience physically separates us from the reality surrounding us and conveys us to distant worlds. Peru, the Antarctic, Perperikon, or the lost lands of Atlantis—all unfold before the eyes of the viewer, refracted through the personal emotion and sensibility of the artist, through the rich imagination and curiosity towards the unknown that she materialises in her painting.
Nina Ruseva’s landscapes occupy the boundary between abstraction and reality—effulgent and temperamental, creating a sense of dynamism and, at the same time, bringing tranquillity to a desolate space dominated by natural forms. The large formats allow for a bold handling of form, colour, and large strokes thickly applied to the canvas.
The bright palette and frequent use of dark contours are distinguishing features of Nina Ruseva’s figurative language, reinforcing the feeling of the illusoriness of natural scenes.

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

The ‘Atlantis’ exhibition is an adventure of the senses, an open door to the notion of reality and the past, a bold and dreamy inducement to encounter the unknown or the non-existent, even if only in one pictorial world.
Nina Ruseva created most of these paintings specifically for the occasion. The extreme, exciting emotional experience physically separates us from the reality surrounding us and conveys us to distant worlds. Peru, the Antarctic, Perperikon, or the lost lands of Atlantis—all unfold before the eyes of the viewer, refracted through the personal emotion and sensibility of the artist, through the rich imagination and curiosity towards the unknown that she materialises in her painting.
Nina Ruseva’s landscapes occupy the boundary between abstraction and reality—effulgent and temperamental, creating a sense of dynamism and, at the same time, bringing tranquillity to a desolate space dominated by natural forms. The large formats allow for a bold handling of form, colour, and large strokes thickly applied to the canvas.
The bright palette and frequent use of dark contours are distinguishing features of Nina Ruseva’s figurative language, reinforcing the feeling of the illusoriness of natural scenes.

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

The ‘Atlantis’ exhibition is an adventure of the senses, an open door to the notion of reality and the past, a bold and dreamy inducement to encounter the unknown or the non-existent, even if only in one pictorial world.
Nina Ruseva created most of these paintings specifically for the occasion. The extreme, exciting emotional experience physically separates us from the reality surrounding us and conveys us to distant worlds. Peru, the Antarctic, Perperikon, or the lost lands of Atlantis—all unfold before the eyes of the viewer, refracted through the personal emotion and sensibility of the artist, through the rich imagination and curiosity towards the unknown that she materialises in her painting.
Nina Ruseva’s landscapes occupy the boundary between abstraction and reality—effulgent and temperamental, creating a sense of dynamism and, at the same time, bringing tranquillity to a desolate space dominated by natural forms. The large formats allow for a bold handling of form, colour, and large strokes thickly applied to the canvas.
The bright palette and frequent use of dark contours are distinguishing features of Nina Ruseva’s figurative language, reinforcing the feeling of the illusoriness of natural scenes.

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

Kvadrat 500
Soloist/s
Ensemble
Quarto Quartet
Program
Béla Bartók - Romanian Folk Dances
Johannes Brahms - Selected "Hugnarian Dances"
Marin Goleminov - Bulgarian Dances
Ottorino Respighi - Ancient Airs and Dances - Suite No.1

Pancharevo Lake
Ballet by Ludwig Minkus Duration 2:00 Intermission 1 Pancharevo Lake / next to Sredets National Rowing Base, Pancharevo Quarter, 9 Samokovsko Shosse Blvd.

The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

The ‘Atlantis’ exhibition is an adventure of the senses, an open door to the notion of reality and the past, a bold and dreamy inducement to encounter the unknown or the non-existent, even if only in one pictorial world.
Nina Ruseva created most of these paintings specifically for the occasion. The extreme, exciting emotional experience physically separates us from the reality surrounding us and conveys us to distant worlds. Peru, the Antarctic, Perperikon, or the lost lands of Atlantis—all unfold before the eyes of the viewer, refracted through the personal emotion and sensibility of the artist, through the rich imagination and curiosity towards the unknown that she materialises in her painting.
Nina Ruseva’s landscapes occupy the boundary between abstraction and reality—effulgent and temperamental, creating a sense of dynamism and, at the same time, bringing tranquillity to a desolate space dominated by natural forms. The large formats allow for a bold handling of form, colour, and large strokes thickly applied to the canvas.
The bright palette and frequent use of dark contours are distinguishing features of Nina Ruseva’s figurative language, reinforcing the feeling of the illusoriness of natural scenes.

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

Pancharevo Lake
Ballet by Ludwig Minkus Duration 2:00 Intermission 1 Pancharevo Lake / next to Sredets National Rowing Base, Pancharevo Quarter, 9 Samokovsko Shosse Blvd.

Belogradchik Open stage in front of Belogradchik rocks, Belogradchik
Opera by Giacomo Puccini - New production
Duration 2:45 Intermission 1
"Opera on the peaks" - Belogradchik
It is performed in Italian, with Bulgarian and English subtitles

The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

The ‘Atlantis’ exhibition is an adventure of the senses, an open door to the notion of reality and the past, a bold and dreamy inducement to encounter the unknown or the non-existent, even if only in one pictorial world.
Nina Ruseva created most of these paintings specifically for the occasion. The extreme, exciting emotional experience physically separates us from the reality surrounding us and conveys us to distant worlds. Peru, the Antarctic, Perperikon, or the lost lands of Atlantis—all unfold before the eyes of the viewer, refracted through the personal emotion and sensibility of the artist, through the rich imagination and curiosity towards the unknown that she materialises in her painting.
Nina Ruseva’s landscapes occupy the boundary between abstraction and reality—effulgent and temperamental, creating a sense of dynamism and, at the same time, bringing tranquillity to a desolate space dominated by natural forms. The large formats allow for a bold handling of form, colour, and large strokes thickly applied to the canvas.
The bright palette and frequent use of dark contours are distinguishing features of Nina Ruseva’s figurative language, reinforcing the feeling of the illusoriness of natural scenes.

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

Pancharevo Lake
Ballet to the music of Carl Orff's oratorio
Duration - 1:45 with one intermission
Pancharevo Lake / next to Sredets National Rowing Base, Pancharevo Quarter, 9 Samokovsko Shosse Blvd.
Performed in Latin

Belogradchik Open stage in front of Belogradchik rocks, Belogradchik
Opera by Giacomo Puccini - New production
Duration 2:45 Intermission 1
"Opera on the peaks" - Belogradchik
It is performed in Italian, with Bulgarian and English subtitles

The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

The ‘Atlantis’ exhibition is an adventure of the senses, an open door to the notion of reality and the past, a bold and dreamy inducement to encounter the unknown or the non-existent, even if only in one pictorial world.
Nina Ruseva created most of these paintings specifically for the occasion. The extreme, exciting emotional experience physically separates us from the reality surrounding us and conveys us to distant worlds. Peru, the Antarctic, Perperikon, or the lost lands of Atlantis—all unfold before the eyes of the viewer, refracted through the personal emotion and sensibility of the artist, through the rich imagination and curiosity towards the unknown that she materialises in her painting.
Nina Ruseva’s landscapes occupy the boundary between abstraction and reality—effulgent and temperamental, creating a sense of dynamism and, at the same time, bringing tranquillity to a desolate space dominated by natural forms. The large formats allow for a bold handling of form, colour, and large strokes thickly applied to the canvas.
The bright palette and frequent use of dark contours are distinguishing features of Nina Ruseva’s figurative language, reinforcing the feeling of the illusoriness of natural scenes.

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

Pancharevo Lake
Ballet to the music of Carl Orff's oratorio
Duration - 1:45 with one intermission
Pancharevo Lake / next to Sredets National Rowing Base, Pancharevo Quarter, 9 Samokovsko Shosse Blvd.
Performed in Latin

Belogradchik Open stage in front of Belogradchik rocks, Belogradchik
Opera by Giacomo Puccini - New production
Duration 2:45 Intermission 1
"Opera on the peaks" - Belogradchik
It is performed in Italian, with Bulgarian and English subtitles

The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

The ‘Atlantis’ exhibition is an adventure of the senses, an open door to the notion of reality and the past, a bold and dreamy inducement to encounter the unknown or the non-existent, even if only in one pictorial world.
Nina Ruseva created most of these paintings specifically for the occasion. The extreme, exciting emotional experience physically separates us from the reality surrounding us and conveys us to distant worlds. Peru, the Antarctic, Perperikon, or the lost lands of Atlantis—all unfold before the eyes of the viewer, refracted through the personal emotion and sensibility of the artist, through the rich imagination and curiosity towards the unknown that she materialises in her painting.
Nina Ruseva’s landscapes occupy the boundary between abstraction and reality—effulgent and temperamental, creating a sense of dynamism and, at the same time, bringing tranquillity to a desolate space dominated by natural forms. The large formats allow for a bold handling of form, colour, and large strokes thickly applied to the canvas.
The bright palette and frequent use of dark contours are distinguishing features of Nina Ruseva’s figurative language, reinforcing the feeling of the illusoriness of natural scenes.

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

The ‘Atlantis’ exhibition is an adventure of the senses, an open door to the notion of reality and the past, a bold and dreamy inducement to encounter the unknown or the non-existent, even if only in one pictorial world.
Nina Ruseva created most of these paintings specifically for the occasion. The extreme, exciting emotional experience physically separates us from the reality surrounding us and conveys us to distant worlds. Peru, the Antarctic, Perperikon, or the lost lands of Atlantis—all unfold before the eyes of the viewer, refracted through the personal emotion and sensibility of the artist, through the rich imagination and curiosity towards the unknown that she materialises in her painting.
Nina Ruseva’s landscapes occupy the boundary between abstraction and reality—effulgent and temperamental, creating a sense of dynamism and, at the same time, bringing tranquillity to a desolate space dominated by natural forms. The large formats allow for a bold handling of form, colour, and large strokes thickly applied to the canvas.
The bright palette and frequent use of dark contours are distinguishing features of Nina Ruseva’s figurative language, reinforcing the feeling of the illusoriness of natural scenes.

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

The ‘Atlantis’ exhibition is an adventure of the senses, an open door to the notion of reality and the past, a bold and dreamy inducement to encounter the unknown or the non-existent, even if only in one pictorial world.
Nina Ruseva created most of these paintings specifically for the occasion. The extreme, exciting emotional experience physically separates us from the reality surrounding us and conveys us to distant worlds. Peru, the Antarctic, Perperikon, or the lost lands of Atlantis—all unfold before the eyes of the viewer, refracted through the personal emotion and sensibility of the artist, through the rich imagination and curiosity towards the unknown that she materialises in her painting.
Nina Ruseva’s landscapes occupy the boundary between abstraction and reality—effulgent and temperamental, creating a sense of dynamism and, at the same time, bringing tranquillity to a desolate space dominated by natural forms. The large formats allow for a bold handling of form, colour, and large strokes thickly applied to the canvas.
The bright palette and frequent use of dark contours are distinguishing features of Nina Ruseva’s figurative language, reinforcing the feeling of the illusoriness of natural scenes.

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

Pancharevo Lake
Musical by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Director Plamen Kartaloff
Duration 3:00 with 1 intermission
Pancharevo Lake / next to Sredets National Rowing Base, Pancharevo Quarter, 9 Samokovsko Shosse Blvd.
Performed in Bulgarian

The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

The ‘Atlantis’ exhibition is an adventure of the senses, an open door to the notion of reality and the past, a bold and dreamy inducement to encounter the unknown or the non-existent, even if only in one pictorial world.
Nina Ruseva created most of these paintings specifically for the occasion. The extreme, exciting emotional experience physically separates us from the reality surrounding us and conveys us to distant worlds. Peru, the Antarctic, Perperikon, or the lost lands of Atlantis—all unfold before the eyes of the viewer, refracted through the personal emotion and sensibility of the artist, through the rich imagination and curiosity towards the unknown that she materialises in her painting.
Nina Ruseva’s landscapes occupy the boundary between abstraction and reality—effulgent and temperamental, creating a sense of dynamism and, at the same time, bringing tranquillity to a desolate space dominated by natural forms. The large formats allow for a bold handling of form, colour, and large strokes thickly applied to the canvas.
The bright palette and frequent use of dark contours are distinguishing features of Nina Ruseva’s figurative language, reinforcing the feeling of the illusoriness of natural scenes.

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

Kvadrat 500
Soloist/s
Denitsa Dimitrova
Ivan Penchev
About the Event
Pieces by: Gaetano Donizetti, Camille Saint-Saëns, Louis Spohr, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Astor Piazzolla.

Pancharevo Lake
Musical by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Director Plamen Kartaloff
Duration 3:00 with 1 intermission
Pancharevo Lake / next to Sredets National Rowing Base, Pancharevo Quarter, 9 Samokovsko Shosse Blvd.
Performed in Bulgarian

The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

The ‘Atlantis’ exhibition is an adventure of the senses, an open door to the notion of reality and the past, a bold and dreamy inducement to encounter the unknown or the non-existent, even if only in one pictorial world.
Nina Ruseva created most of these paintings specifically for the occasion. The extreme, exciting emotional experience physically separates us from the reality surrounding us and conveys us to distant worlds. Peru, the Antarctic, Perperikon, or the lost lands of Atlantis—all unfold before the eyes of the viewer, refracted through the personal emotion and sensibility of the artist, through the rich imagination and curiosity towards the unknown that she materialises in her painting.
Nina Ruseva’s landscapes occupy the boundary between abstraction and reality—effulgent and temperamental, creating a sense of dynamism and, at the same time, bringing tranquillity to a desolate space dominated by natural forms. The large formats allow for a bold handling of form, colour, and large strokes thickly applied to the canvas.
The bright palette and frequent use of dark contours are distinguishing features of Nina Ruseva’s figurative language, reinforcing the feeling of the illusoriness of natural scenes.

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

Open stage in front of Belogradchik rocks, Belogradchik
Ballet to the music of Carl Orff's oratorio
Duration - 1:45 with one intermission
"Opera on the peaks" - Belogradchik
Performed in Latin

Pancharevo Lake
Musical by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Director Plamen Kartaloff
Duration 3:00 with 1 intermission
Pancharevo Lake / next to Sredets National Rowing Base, Pancharevo Quarter, 9 Samokovsko Shosse Blvd.
Performed in Bulgarian

The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

The ‘Atlantis’ exhibition is an adventure of the senses, an open door to the notion of reality and the past, a bold and dreamy inducement to encounter the unknown or the non-existent, even if only in one pictorial world.
Nina Ruseva created most of these paintings specifically for the occasion. The extreme, exciting emotional experience physically separates us from the reality surrounding us and conveys us to distant worlds. Peru, the Antarctic, Perperikon, or the lost lands of Atlantis—all unfold before the eyes of the viewer, refracted through the personal emotion and sensibility of the artist, through the rich imagination and curiosity towards the unknown that she materialises in her painting.
Nina Ruseva’s landscapes occupy the boundary between abstraction and reality—effulgent and temperamental, creating a sense of dynamism and, at the same time, bringing tranquillity to a desolate space dominated by natural forms. The large formats allow for a bold handling of form, colour, and large strokes thickly applied to the canvas.
The bright palette and frequent use of dark contours are distinguishing features of Nina Ruseva’s figurative language, reinforcing the feeling of the illusoriness of natural scenes.

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

Open stage in front of Belogradchik rocks, Belogradchik
Ballet by Ludwig Minkus
Duration 2:00 Intermission 1
"Opera on the peaks" - Belogradchik 

Pancharevo Lake
Musical by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Director Plamen Kartaloff
Duration 3:00 with 1 intermission
Pancharevo Lake / next to Sredets National Rowing Base, Pancharevo Quarter, 9 Samokovsko Shosse Blvd.
Performed in Bulgarian

The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

The ‘Atlantis’ exhibition is an adventure of the senses, an open door to the notion of reality and the past, a bold and dreamy inducement to encounter the unknown or the non-existent, even if only in one pictorial world.
Nina Ruseva created most of these paintings specifically for the occasion. The extreme, exciting emotional experience physically separates us from the reality surrounding us and conveys us to distant worlds. Peru, the Antarctic, Perperikon, or the lost lands of Atlantis—all unfold before the eyes of the viewer, refracted through the personal emotion and sensibility of the artist, through the rich imagination and curiosity towards the unknown that she materialises in her painting.
Nina Ruseva’s landscapes occupy the boundary between abstraction and reality—effulgent and temperamental, creating a sense of dynamism and, at the same time, bringing tranquillity to a desolate space dominated by natural forms. The large formats allow for a bold handling of form, colour, and large strokes thickly applied to the canvas.
The bright palette and frequent use of dark contours are distinguishing features of Nina Ruseva’s figurative language, reinforcing the feeling of the illusoriness of natural scenes.

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

Open stage in front of Belogradchik rocks, Belogradchik
Ballet to the music of Carl Orff's oratorio
Duration - 1:45 with one intermission
"Opera on the peaks" - Belogradchik
Performed in Latin

Pancharevo Lake
Musical by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Director Plamen Kartaloff
Duration 3:00 with 1 intermission
Pancharevo Lake / next to Sredets National Rowing Base, Pancharevo Quarter, 9 Samokovsko Shosse Blvd.
Performed in Bulgarian

The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

The ‘Atlantis’ exhibition is an adventure of the senses, an open door to the notion of reality and the past, a bold and dreamy inducement to encounter the unknown or the non-existent, even if only in one pictorial world.
Nina Ruseva created most of these paintings specifically for the occasion. The extreme, exciting emotional experience physically separates us from the reality surrounding us and conveys us to distant worlds. Peru, the Antarctic, Perperikon, or the lost lands of Atlantis—all unfold before the eyes of the viewer, refracted through the personal emotion and sensibility of the artist, through the rich imagination and curiosity towards the unknown that she materialises in her painting.
Nina Ruseva’s landscapes occupy the boundary between abstraction and reality—effulgent and temperamental, creating a sense of dynamism and, at the same time, bringing tranquillity to a desolate space dominated by natural forms. The large formats allow for a bold handling of form, colour, and large strokes thickly applied to the canvas.
The bright palette and frequent use of dark contours are distinguishing features of Nina Ruseva’s figurative language, reinforcing the feeling of the illusoriness of natural scenes.

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

The ‘Atlantis’ exhibition is an adventure of the senses, an open door to the notion of reality and the past, a bold and dreamy inducement to encounter the unknown or the non-existent, even if only in one pictorial world.
Nina Ruseva created most of these paintings specifically for the occasion. The extreme, exciting emotional experience physically separates us from the reality surrounding us and conveys us to distant worlds. Peru, the Antarctic, Perperikon, or the lost lands of Atlantis—all unfold before the eyes of the viewer, refracted through the personal emotion and sensibility of the artist, through the rich imagination and curiosity towards the unknown that she materialises in her painting.
Nina Ruseva’s landscapes occupy the boundary between abstraction and reality—effulgent and temperamental, creating a sense of dynamism and, at the same time, bringing tranquillity to a desolate space dominated by natural forms. The large formats allow for a bold handling of form, colour, and large strokes thickly applied to the canvas.
The bright palette and frequent use of dark contours are distinguishing features of Nina Ruseva’s figurative language, reinforcing the feeling of the illusoriness of natural scenes.

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

The ‘Atlantis’ exhibition is an adventure of the senses, an open door to the notion of reality and the past, a bold and dreamy inducement to encounter the unknown or the non-existent, even if only in one pictorial world.
Nina Ruseva created most of these paintings specifically for the occasion. The extreme, exciting emotional experience physically separates us from the reality surrounding us and conveys us to distant worlds. Peru, the Antarctic, Perperikon, or the lost lands of Atlantis—all unfold before the eyes of the viewer, refracted through the personal emotion and sensibility of the artist, through the rich imagination and curiosity towards the unknown that she materialises in her painting.
Nina Ruseva’s landscapes occupy the boundary between abstraction and reality—effulgent and temperamental, creating a sense of dynamism and, at the same time, bringing tranquillity to a desolate space dominated by natural forms. The large formats allow for a bold handling of form, colour, and large strokes thickly applied to the canvas.
The bright palette and frequent use of dark contours are distinguishing features of Nina Ruseva’s figurative language, reinforcing the feeling of the illusoriness of natural scenes.

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

The ‘Atlantis’ exhibition is an adventure of the senses, an open door to the notion of reality and the past, a bold and dreamy inducement to encounter the unknown or the non-existent, even if only in one pictorial world.
Nina Ruseva created most of these paintings specifically for the occasion. The extreme, exciting emotional experience physically separates us from the reality surrounding us and conveys us to distant worlds. Peru, the Antarctic, Perperikon, or the lost lands of Atlantis—all unfold before the eyes of the viewer, refracted through the personal emotion and sensibility of the artist, through the rich imagination and curiosity towards the unknown that she materialises in her painting.
Nina Ruseva’s landscapes occupy the boundary between abstraction and reality—effulgent and temperamental, creating a sense of dynamism and, at the same time, bringing tranquillity to a desolate space dominated by natural forms. The large formats allow for a bold handling of form, colour, and large strokes thickly applied to the canvas.
The bright palette and frequent use of dark contours are distinguishing features of Nina Ruseva’s figurative language, reinforcing the feeling of the illusoriness of natural scenes.

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

Kvadrat 500
Soloist/s
Stefan Vrachev
Ensemble
Bella Voce

The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

The ‘Atlantis’ exhibition is an adventure of the senses, an open door to the notion of reality and the past, a bold and dreamy inducement to encounter the unknown or the non-existent, even if only in one pictorial world.
Nina Ruseva created most of these paintings specifically for the occasion. The extreme, exciting emotional experience physically separates us from the reality surrounding us and conveys us to distant worlds. Peru, the Antarctic, Perperikon, or the lost lands of Atlantis—all unfold before the eyes of the viewer, refracted through the personal emotion and sensibility of the artist, through the rich imagination and curiosity towards the unknown that she materialises in her painting.
Nina Ruseva’s landscapes occupy the boundary between abstraction and reality—effulgent and temperamental, creating a sense of dynamism and, at the same time, bringing tranquillity to a desolate space dominated by natural forms. The large formats allow for a bold handling of form, colour, and large strokes thickly applied to the canvas.
The bright palette and frequent use of dark contours are distinguishing features of Nina Ruseva’s figurative language, reinforcing the feeling of the illusoriness of natural scenes.

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

Pancharevo Lake
William Shakespeare. Ballet by Felix Mendelssohn
Duration 1:30 Intermission 1
Pancharevo Lake / next to Sredets National Rowing Base, Pancharevo Quarter, 9 Samokovsko Shosse Blvd.

The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

The ‘Atlantis’ exhibition is an adventure of the senses, an open door to the notion of reality and the past, a bold and dreamy inducement to encounter the unknown or the non-existent, even if only in one pictorial world.
Nina Ruseva created most of these paintings specifically for the occasion. The extreme, exciting emotional experience physically separates us from the reality surrounding us and conveys us to distant worlds. Peru, the Antarctic, Perperikon, or the lost lands of Atlantis—all unfold before the eyes of the viewer, refracted through the personal emotion and sensibility of the artist, through the rich imagination and curiosity towards the unknown that she materialises in her painting.
Nina Ruseva’s landscapes occupy the boundary between abstraction and reality—effulgent and temperamental, creating a sense of dynamism and, at the same time, bringing tranquillity to a desolate space dominated by natural forms. The large formats allow for a bold handling of form, colour, and large strokes thickly applied to the canvas.
The bright palette and frequent use of dark contours are distinguishing features of Nina Ruseva’s figurative language, reinforcing the feeling of the illusoriness of natural scenes.

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

Pancharevo Lake
Music by Bizet, Shchedrin and Maurice Ravel
Duration 1:50 Intermission 1
Pancharevo Lake / next to Sredets National Rowing Base Pancharevo Quarter, 9 Samokovsko Shosse Blvd.

The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

The ‘Atlantis’ exhibition is an adventure of the senses, an open door to the notion of reality and the past, a bold and dreamy inducement to encounter the unknown or the non-existent, even if only in one pictorial world.
Nina Ruseva created most of these paintings specifically for the occasion. The extreme, exciting emotional experience physically separates us from the reality surrounding us and conveys us to distant worlds. Peru, the Antarctic, Perperikon, or the lost lands of Atlantis—all unfold before the eyes of the viewer, refracted through the personal emotion and sensibility of the artist, through the rich imagination and curiosity towards the unknown that she materialises in her painting.
Nina Ruseva’s landscapes occupy the boundary between abstraction and reality—effulgent and temperamental, creating a sense of dynamism and, at the same time, bringing tranquillity to a desolate space dominated by natural forms. The large formats allow for a bold handling of form, colour, and large strokes thickly applied to the canvas.
The bright palette and frequent use of dark contours are distinguishing features of Nina Ruseva’s figurative language, reinforcing the feeling of the illusoriness of natural scenes.

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

Pancharevo Lake
William Shakespeare. Ballet by Felix Mendelssohn
Duration 1:30 Intermission 1
Pancharevo Lake / next to Sredets National Rowing Base, Pancharevo Quarter, 9 Samokovsko Shosse Blvd.

The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

Pancharevo Lake
Musical by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Director Plamen Kartaloff
Duration 3:00 with 1 intermission
Pancharevo Lake / next to Sredets National Rowing Base, Pancharevo Quarter, 9 Samokovsko Shosse Blvd.
Performed in Bulgarian

The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

Pancharevo Lake
Musical by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Director Plamen Kartaloff
Duration 3:00 with 1 intermission
Pancharevo Lake / next to Sredets National Rowing Base, Pancharevo Quarter, 9 Samokovsko Shosse Blvd.
Performed in Bulgarian

The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

Pancharevo Lake
Musical by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Director Plamen Kartaloff
Duration 3:00 with 1 intermission
Pancharevo Lake / next to Sredets National Rowing Base, Pancharevo Quarter, 9 Samokovsko Shosse Blvd.
Performed in Bulgarian

The Palace Protecting cultural heritage, and sometimes saving it, is the main task of restorers. Their work – conservation, and restoration of individual objects and entire complexes – results from studies, analyses, and extensive knowledge in chemistry, physics, art history, theology, general history, and many other fields.
Professional education for restorers in our country goes back fifty years, and in 2003 the Association of Conservator-Restorers in Bulgaria (ACRB) was established – a professional association of certified restorers – scientists and specialists with experience and contribution to preserving cultural heritage. Today, the association includes some of the best restorers of paintings and icons, frescoes, mosaics, decorative wall panels, works on paper, books, and photographs, along with cultural heritage objects made of wood, ceramics, stone, metal, and textile.
The exhibition in the National Gallery introduces photographic details of the work of the members of ACRB on objects such as the Madara Rider rock relief, the facade frescoes of the Hrelyo’s Tower in the Rila Monastery, the frescoes in the Boyana Church, the mosaics from the Episcopal Basilica of Philippopolis, icons from the Church of St Stefan in Nessebar, manuscripts from the collection of the Center for Slavic-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Duychev,” paintings from the National Gallery, photographs from the collection of the National History Museum, the original banner of the Stara Zagora Uprising of 1875.
The format that familiarizes the activities of the ACRB members is documental wallboards that participate in the Restoration Forum. Since 2006 it has been one of the major annual events in the life of Bulgarian restorers, during which results, plans, and projects are shared. Subsequently, the Forum has included sessions with reports expanding into national conferences. These are held in Sofia and in partnership with the city art galleries and regional history museums in Pleven, Blagoevgrad, Samokov, Kyustendil, and Plovdiv. The present exhibition includes presentations from various editions of the Forum.
The Association of Restorers in Bulgaria aims to constantly raise the level of conservation and restoration following generally accepted European standards, validation and recognition of the restorer’s legal status, and, of course, strives to present and popularize this profession. In pursuit of these goals, in 2009, ACRB became a full member of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organizations (E.C.C.O.). The archival materials in the exhibition are testimony to the twenty-year history of ACRB, guided by the understanding that cultural heritage is a public resource with an essential role in our national identity, with its preservation inextricably linked to the application of modern professional principles and standards.

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
These exhibits conceptualise the traces of the artists’ inner personal fires. A path reminiscent of a leap over chaos in pursuit of spiritual organisation and purification. The exhibition’s title comes from the book, ‘Images of Philosophy and Bodily Mind’, by the contemporary Czech artist Aleš Zapletal (AVU Publishing House, Prague, 2022). The artworks of Magdaléna Roztočilová and Lyuben Petrov, unified by expressions of fire, relate above all to the vibration of the states and sensations the artists depict. They differ on a compositional level, but are as if tightly bound by an invisible nerve fibre, capturing the resonance recreated between them, despite their individual means of expression and creative energies.
The concave and convex flame-like sections in Magdaléna Roztočilová’s sculptures are manifestations of a spiritual substance, with direct reference to the Holy Spirit. The forms give off a vital radiance emanating from a powerful inner source and express the presence and influence of the Divine Spirit upon human existence. According to the artist, the flames are a symbol of the transformation of the soul, of changes in its emotional, mental, and psychological aspects, leading to deep insight, self-realisation, enlightenment, and an elevated level of consciousness. This metamorphosis is associated with self-exploration, pardon, self-acceptance, release from negative thought patterns, behaviour in accordance with higher values and accumulated knowledge.
The individual journey is dictated by various experiences—meditation, teachings and spiritual practices, and personal growth.
The inspiration for the sculptures was the heroic life story of Milada Horáková (1901–1950), a Czech politician, lawyer, and social activist, against whom, along with members of the opposition circle supporting her, the Czechoslovak Communist Party conducted a show trial.
The connection between the works of the two artists also reveals itself in their powerful shared idea—the contemplation of love. ‘Fire, Follow Me’, a series of paintings by Lyuben Petrov, represents a search for balance through a consciousness of purification. A symbol of this quest is fire, which also serves as a metaphor for love. The personages he depicts are in absolute symbiosis but can be mistaken for pain or sorrow. The artist enjoys the tension he creates, which is further enhanced by the sharp chromatic contrast and his working of the texture and plasticity of the paint. The figures engulfed in flames recreate the depth of emotion and the heat of the moment of ‘their day’, while the world around them stays intact, like the landscape, unaffected by their inner experience.
The exhibition is realised in partnership with the Czech Centre in Sofia.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

Pancharevo Lake
Musical by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Director Plamen Kartaloff
Duration 3:00 with 1 intermission
Pancharevo Lake / next to Sredets National Rowing Base, Pancharevo Quarter, 9 Samokovsko Shosse Blvd.
Performed in Bulgarian

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

Photography exhibition by Konstantin Vulkov
Kvadrat 500
Try, fall down, get up, try again. Make friends with pain.
Smile. You’ve made friends with your body. Now you know more about yourself. This makes you confident to continue, take risks and reach a new level you had only dreamt of. You now look at yourself and the world around you with new eyes. You never laugh at the amateurish efforts of others and light-heartedly share your knowledge. This is what nobility means. In skateboarding the little ones can also be great. Every person to take off from the ground in flight for even seconds has overcome their fears and knows what it means to rely on nobody but yourself.
The photo series of skate parks by Konstantin Vulkov is a major lesson in social photography. Not sports, nor portrait, but documentary – a visual story of street culture with locations in Cape Town and Barcelona, Manchester and Burgas, Sofia and Tsarevo. The images are extraordinary encounters with people from different generations who all practise this sport. They were taken in social environments that fought to be recognized by society – transitioning from a “delinquent bunch” into “Olympic hopefuls”. From thug appearances with skateboards in public spaces to training in purpose-built skate parks.
Accelerate-soar-land. Konstantin Vulkov does not neglect any of the three stages. He does not use effects. He documents this environment with its culture. He has gained the trust of everyone at the ramp; nobody is posing. This exhibition is an account of skateboarding – a sport used to solve social problems in different societies. A sport where there are no social boundaries and which, in its democratic essence, resolves psychological issues. A sport where freedom is personal, yet also shared with anyone with the courage to stand up for it.
Marieta Tsenova - Exhibition curator

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

Photography exhibition by Konstantin Vulkov
Kvadrat 500
Try, fall down, get up, try again. Make friends with pain.
Smile. You’ve made friends with your body. Now you know more about yourself. This makes you confident to continue, take risks and reach a new level you had only dreamt of. You now look at yourself and the world around you with new eyes. You never laugh at the amateurish efforts of others and light-heartedly share your knowledge. This is what nobility means. In skateboarding the little ones can also be great. Every person to take off from the ground in flight for even seconds has overcome their fears and knows what it means to rely on nobody but yourself.
The photo series of skate parks by Konstantin Vulkov is a major lesson in social photography. Not sports, nor portrait, but documentary – a visual story of street culture with locations in Cape Town and Barcelona, Manchester and Burgas, Sofia and Tsarevo. The images are extraordinary encounters with people from different generations who all practise this sport. They were taken in social environments that fought to be recognized by society – transitioning from a “delinquent bunch” into “Olympic hopefuls”. From thug appearances with skateboards in public spaces to training in purpose-built skate parks.
Accelerate-soar-land. Konstantin Vulkov does not neglect any of the three stages. He does not use effects. He documents this environment with its culture. He has gained the trust of everyone at the ramp; nobody is posing. This exhibition is an account of skateboarding – a sport used to solve social problems in different societies. A sport where there are no social boundaries and which, in its democratic essence, resolves psychological issues. A sport where freedom is personal, yet also shared with anyone with the courage to stand up for it.
Marieta Tsenova - Exhibition curator

Emilia Nikolova-Bayer’s oeuvre presented in the current exhibition brings to our attention the under-researched synthesis of the monumental arts and architecture in Bulgaria in the period between 1956 and 1989. The decorative reliefs the artist sculpted for two iconic theatres − Sofia Theatre in the Bulgarian capital (1973 – 75) and the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin (1982 – 84) − are featured. The exhibition seeks to cast a critical eye over the general perception of the female creator in Bulgaria during the second half of the twentieth century − as avant-garde, strong, and brave; it gives us the opportunity to delve for the first time into the colourful world of the artist, to become acquainted with her new visual language for that time, and to appreciate a novel experience of the public architectural space.
The stone reliefs of the Sofia Theatre and the concrete reliefs of the Friedrichstadt-Palast form elements playing a lively rhythm in the architectural ensemble. With her use of bas-relief in harmony with the proportions of the façade, Emilia Nikolova-Bayer has left her original mark on contemporary architecture.
Photographs from Emilia and Rainer Bayer’s personal archive are on display, ranging from decorative reliefs, ceramic panels, stone inscriptions and drawings to sculptures of various sizes in a range of materials. Current photographs of some of the sites, by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning Berlin and the artist Kalin Serapionov, are included.
Awards and honours
1958 Distinction for best work of art at the International Art Exhibition in Vienna.
1984 Award at the International Biennale of Contemporary Ceramics in Faenza, Italy.
1984 Sts Cyril and Methodius Bronze Medal.
Artworks by Emilia Nikolova-Bayer are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Yambol Art Gallery, and the Museum of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo.
Her works are also owned by private collections in New York, Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hanover, Berlin, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Munich, Moscow, Warsaw, Sofia; and museums and collections in Berlin, Poland, and Faenza (Italy).

Kvadrat 500
The fourth edition of ‘The Wall’, the National Gallery’s project launched in 2020, welcomes artist Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar to the Kvadrat 500 Atrium. At one of the areas designated for contemporary art and located at the heart of Kvadrat 500—home of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition—there rises a monumental structure titled ‘The Wall’. The idea of creating this facility was largely prompted by the need to present mural and graffiti artists in the gallery. After showing the works of Nikolay Petrov GLOW (2020), Alexi Ivanov (2021) and BILOS (2022), the project now introduces Mihaela Mihaylova – Misha Mar. She presents ‘Portrait of the Moon in Black’, a composition representing the eight phases of the Moon in black and white, painted over more than a month. As a true selenophile, Mihaela examines the theme in detail and conceives a particular affection for the subject of her studies—marks visible on the surface of the exquisite portrait she creates.
‘My Moon,
‘My faithful friend in the night, this is a love letter to You, painted with the calligraphy of my soul on Your surface. All the words I never told You, fixed upon the layers of our unspoken secrets that glow with the reflected light of the burning desire of the day.
‘This is for You…’
Misha Mar
The eight faces of the Moon—the full moon cycle—‘rises’ on ‘The Wall’ in the Sculpture Garden of Kvadrat 500, to the accompaniment of MUSICAL STATUES. Guests will be able to enjoy special summer cocktails with MALFY GIN.
The project is made possible through the support of the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation.
About the artist In 2008, Mihaela Mihaylova graduated in Iconography from the Tsanko Lavrenov National Secondary School in Plovdiv. Later, she was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and, in 2014, she graduated from the Photography Master’s Programme at the National Academy of Arts. The artist has held several solo exhibitions and been included in many group exhibitions. In 2023, she presented to the public her first photo book, ‘MAR’, with black-and-white photographs depicting the parallel worlds ‘between the mountain and the sea, between birds and firebugs.’

Multimedia exposition dedicated to 150 years since the death of the Apostle of Freedom, Vasil Levski.
Using holographic technology on a large-scale video wall, a re-enactment of the trial of the Apostle of Freedom is displayed, and significant moments of his life are brought back to life. Veselin Plachkov portrays Vasil Levski. Actors Ivan Trenev, Lyubov Pavlova, Rumen Ivanov, Alexander Georgiev, Biser Marinov and Nikola Dodov are also participants. Nelly Dimitrova is the screenwriter; Dimitar Gochev, the director; Simeon Parashkevov and Dimitar Gochev, cinematographers; Atanas Gendov, composer; Pirina Veselinova, Evgeni Gospodinov and the Svetoglas Quartet, musical performers; sensor studio, animation and mapping; Hristo Karagyozov, audio mixing and post-production; Ivo Milev, creative producer; and Tsvetoslav Borisov, executive producer.
The National Gallery and the Vasil Levski All-Bulgarian Committee created the exposition, with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and donations by the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, Kaufland Bulgaria EOOD, Aurubis Bulgaria JSC, Vazovski Machinery Works JSC – Sopot, and patriotic Bulgarians.
Kvadrat 500, entrance at 95, Vasil Levski Blvd., Sofia
Opening hours:
Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
The screenings are 30 minutes away, starting at 10 am
Bookings for groups of up to 20 people: +359 879 834 025
FREE ADMISSION

In the summer the birthday kids will be able to invite their friends to their special day with our exciting Outdoor Explorers program and have fun in the Museko courtyard.
Museco is kicking off its Summer Outdoor Explorers birthday program. The program offers extremely fun and educational activities that take place outdoors in the courtyard of Muzeiko.
The duration of the program is 1 hour and 45 minutes during which children embark on an unforgettable journey through the mysteries of science. Anyone born during the summer months can get involved in this exciting activity.
One of the most interesting parts of the program is the adventure with secret missions. Sunny little explorers will have to solve puzzles, discover hidden objects and follow the footsteps of scientific geniuses. It is an exciting challenge that helps them develop their logical thinking and observation.
Children will be encouraged to use their observational and scientific skills as they solve puzzles and explore the nature around them. The Muzeiko team will be on hand to support and encourage children in their research skills.
Don't miss the opportunity for your child to have an unforgettable birthday party with the Outdoor Explorers program.
Birthdays in Muzeiko are also held in English.
Follow our monthly program and other offers for birthday programs on our website - www.muzeiko.bg.

The Vera Nedkova House Museum ‘In the Home of Vera Nedkova’, the programme launched in 2019, continues to present contemporary artists along with Nedkova’s paintings. Displayed in the cosy atmosphere marked by Vera Nedkova’s intellectual and creative presence, the six photographs by Yana Lozeva show images of women with a strong and memorable individuality. Despite the apparent incompatibility of the two artists in their creative pursuits and concepts, the photographs correspond in an elegant way with the paintings in the museum’s interior. ‘We were looking for expressiveness, not so much external as internal,’ Vera Nedkova stated in her memoirs about her own art. In her early works, she was moved by the portrait and its depiction in a non-standard style in a space devoid of details.
Taken over the past two years, the photographs have captured brief and elusive moments and states of the subjects portrayed. The female images seem to sink into space in the manner of a watercolour, with their blurred contours and transitions between black and white. With her keenness of observation, Yana Lozeva is intrigued by the mysteriousness of the ordinary, by the moment of lost control and that specificity of the ‘out-of-hand’ framing, which sneaks inexplicably and imperceptibly in to lie at the base of the ‘Anacrusis’ exhibition.

Conductor
Giancarlo Di Lorenzo
Soloist/s
Ensemble
Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra
Program
Jean Sibelius - Valse triste (Sad Waltz), Op. 44, No. 1
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Concert Suite from Ballet
"The Nutcracker"
Nino Rota - "La Strada" Suite