Bulgarian President Iliana Iotova opened an exhibition at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday marking the 150th death anniversary of Bulgarian freedom-fighter and poet Hristo Botev. The exhibition was prepared by the University of Library Studies and Information Technologies in Sofia in cooperation with the Sts Cyril and Methodius National Library and the State Archives Agency. Its presentation at the EP was organized at the initiative of MEP Kristian Vigenin of the Bulgarian Socialist Party/Party of European Socialists.
The display is tilted: “Hristo Botev: 150 Years of Immortality. Memory and Continuity”. It consists of 20 thematic panels featuring photographs and information tracing Botev’s life, revolutionary activities and legacy.
President Iotova said at the opening: “Hristo Botev is not only a hero of Bulgaria’s national liberation movement. He is part of us, an embodiment of our national spirit.” She noted that, at just 28, Botev had created some of the finest examples of literary ballads in Bulgarian literature.
Iotova recalled that Botev gave his life for Bulgaria’s freedom and that he himself took part in the liberation revolution, knowing that he had no other choice but to come to the aid of his beloved homeland. “If we read Hristo Botev’s journalism today, it is startling – what he writes about, the images he creates, seem as though they were written for our time, for the 21st century,” the President said.
She quoted a French poet who said that death means nothing when you live on in the memory of those who come after you.
MEP Kristian Vigenin said that President Iotova’s presence in Strasbourg was an important sign of how significant this encounter between Bulgarian history and culture and the European public is. According to him, the exhibition offers an opportunity “to present to our European friends one of those personalities without whom it is difficult to understand Bulgaria”.
Among the guests were Foreign Minister Velislava Petrova, Justice Minister Nikolay Naydenov, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church’s Metropolitan Antony of Western and Central Europe, representatives of European and Bulgarian institutions, and Asya Nikolova, director of the Hristo Botev National Museum in Kalofer.
At the official opening of the exhibition, students from the Bulgarian School in Strasbourg, which is named after the poet, recited his poem “Hadzhi Dimitar” in Bulgarian and French.
While in Strasbourg, President Iotova held meetings with senior officials of the Council of Europe and the EU.
President Iotova Opens Exhibition at European Parliament Commemorating Bulgarian National Hero Hristo Botev 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-09-16 20:30:00
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BULGARIA NEWS – NEWS AGENCY 2009–2026 2026-09-16 20:30:00