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Bulgaria

          Motto –“Unity makes strength”            Official language – Bulgarian
          Official script – Cyrillic                        Capital and largest city – Sofia

„The historical development of the Bulgarian lands and the people that inhabited them in the antiquity has been determined by one major factor - their crossroads situation between Europe and Asia. The waves of settlers that swept from both continents into the south or into the north at different times, quite often turned the plains of Thrace, Moesia, Macedonia and the Balkan mountains into an arena of fierce clashes. Prior to the settlement of the Bulgarians about fifteen hundred years ago, this most contended land of the European civilization had seen other people's cultures, with markedly impressive presence in the history of humankind on the planet Earth come, evolve and then, tragically go.“ … read more

Bulgaria in Figures

Important Dates

National Holidays

Do you know that...

• Bulgarian folklore song "Izlel e Delio Haydutin" sung by Valya Balkanska is now at the edge of our home solar system and is about to enter the interstellar space on the board of "Voyager" spacecraft. Listen!
• The longest mountain range is Stara Planina, known also as the Balkan Mountain (530km). The whole peninsula is named after it.
• The oldest golden treasure in the world was found in Bulgaria, near Varna (In 294 graves were discovered more than 3000 golden objects dating back 6000 years).
• Bulgaria preserved its ethnic identity, religion, and culture after 200 years Byzantine and 500 years Ottoman yokes.
• Over 70,000 traditional Bulgarian folklore songs have been collected at the Folklore Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
• The inventor of the first electronic computer Prof. John Atanassoff is of Bulgarian origin.
• Bulgaria produces about 70% of all rose oil in the world.
• Bulgaria hasn't changed its name ever since it was founded.
• On The 1^st of March Bulgarians celebrate Baba Marta, and give each other martenitsa - small tokens made from red and white woolen threads. This custom is essentially to wish great health, good luck, and happiness to family and friends.
• Bulgaria was one of the only two countries that saved their Jewish population from being sent to Nazi concentration camps during the holocaust. (The other country was Denmark.)
• Bulgaria ranks third in Europe only after Greece and Italy for the number of its valuable archeological monuments.
• As a Consultative Party to the Antarctic Treaty, Bulgaria takes part in the governing of Antarctica (since 1998).
• With the accession of Bulgaria to the European Union on January 1, 2007, Cyrillic became the third official alphabet of the EU after Latin and Greek.
• The Festival of Roses is Celebrated at Kazanlak and Karlovo (both situated in the area known as Rose Valley). The first festival was held in 1903 but this tradition also can be traced back into ancient history.
• The famous opera bass singers - Boris Christov and Nickolai Guaurov and the beautiful soprano Raina Kabaivanska are Bulgarians.
• Elias Canetti, a 1981 Nobel Laureate in Literature for writings marked by a broad outlook, a wealth of ideas and artistic power, was born in Rouse, Bulgaria.
• World's first digital wristwatch was developed by the Bulgarian Peter Petroff, a NASA engineer.
• The rite of fire dancing (“Nestinarstvo”) is one of the oldest Bulgarian folk traditions and was once practiced by ancient Thracians. In 2009, the ritual was included as a UNESCO World Heritage legacy of non-material culture.
• The Bulgarian bagpipe is called Kaba Gaida and is a typical national instrument. Listen to “100 Kaba gaidi”. Listen!
• The Bulgarians were the first people to use the Cyrillic alphabet immediately after its inception in the 9^th century.
• Bulgarians generally shake their heads when they mean yes and nod their heads when they mean no.
• The greatest number of mineral springs is to be found in the town of Velingrad (more than 70).
• The hottest mineral water spring in Continental Europe is found in Separeva Banya - its temperature is 103.8°C.
• The mightiest karst spring is Glava Panega in the vicinity of the town of Lovech. Its average capacity is 4,178 liters per second.
• Grape growing and wine production have a long history in Bulgaria, dating back to the times of the Thracians.
• Baikushev's pine is one of the oldest trees  (more than 1300 years) in Bulgaria and is a coeval of the Bulgarian state. (height - 26 m, diameter - 2.2 m,  circumference - 7.8 m)
• Lactobacillus Bulgaricus, the bacterium that is responsible for giving Bulgarian yoghurt its unique flavour and consistency, grows naturally in Bulgaria.
• The Preslav Literary School was the first literary school in the medieval Bulgarian Empire. It was the most important literary and cultural center of Bulgaria and all Slavs. The school developed the Cyrillic script. The earliest datable Cyrillic inscriptions have been found in the area of Preslav.

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