The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) marked its 157th anniversary on Monday with a ceremonial meeting. Delivering a speech, BAS President Evelina Slavcheva said that the renaming of the Bulgarian Literary Society (BLS) to the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences was an important milestone in the development of one of Bulgaria’s oldest institutions.
She recalled how the BLS came into being and what the ideals of its founders were. In 1869, in Braila, Bulgarian Revivalists founded the Bulgarian Literary Society. At that historic moment, science, education, and culture were an integral part of the Bulgarian people’s quest for spiritual and national self-affirmation. The BLS’s mission was to develop the Bulgarian language, literature, history, and science; to gather and disseminate knowledge; and to lay the intellectual foundations for the future Bulgarian state, Slavcheva said. She added that the founders’ goal was for the BLS to become the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences; after the Liberation, the Society’s headquarters were moved to Sofia, where it gradually established itself as a national scientific centre.
The transformation of the BLS into the BAS in 1911 was a natural continuation of this development – a transition from the National Revival’s pursuit of education and national identity to a modern scientific institution dedicated to advancing and unifying scientific knowledge in a free and independent Bulgaria, Slavcheva noted. She recalled that the first law governing the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences was enacted by Decree No. 4 of January 27, 1912, gazetted on February 1, 1912. The law governed the status of the BAS and its relations with the State, affirming an extremely important principle: that science requires freedom and autonomy to fulfill its public mission, said the BAS President. The history of the BAS is intertwined with the history of Bulgarian science itself, Slavcheva added.
Academician Georgi Markov delivered an academic address on “The Transformation of the Bulgarian Literary Society into the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in 1911.” The history of the national institution BAS spans four eras – the National Revival, the Third Bulgarian Kingdom, the People’s Republic of Bulgaria, and the Republic of Bulgaria. It can be compared only to that of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, noted Academician Markov.
At the ceremonial meeting, BAS President Slavcheva presented the BAS Grand Prize for Science for 2026 to Academician Vassil Nikolov. This year, the award was conferred in the field of social sciences and the humanities.
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Marks 157th Anniversary THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-10-12 12:38:00
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