site.btaNew Square 500 National Gallery Unveiled

New Square 500 National Gallery Unveiled

Sofia, May 28 (BTA) - The new Square 500 National Gallery was
officially unveiled on Thursday. The ceremony was attended by
Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, Vice President Margarita Popova,
Deputy Prime Ministers Roumyana Buchvarova and Tomislav Donchev,
as well as nearly all cabinet ministers, MPs, ambassadors, and
representatives of the art community, among others.

"A museum is not just a place where we hang paintings. It is a
place where we keep the memory of a state and this bears the
identity of a nation," Culture Minister Vezhdi Rashidov said.
Vezhidov was he one who concluded the contract for European
funding of the museumТs development during his first mandate at
the post.

Noted artists Svetlin Roussev, who headed the team that devised
the concept of the museum, said today's event is one of the most
significant in Bulgaria's recent history. "A beautiful illusion
has now become part of the spiritual territory of Bulgaria," he
noted.

Regional Development and Public Works Minister Lilyana Pavlova
added that 27 million leva under the Operational Programme
Regional Development were invested in the museum project.

The new gallery will feature nearly 2,000 works in a total of 28
halls on four storeys. The concept was developed along the
lines of the National Art Gallery and that of the National
Gallery of Foreign Art. Half of the works are by Bulgarian
authors and the rest represent the art of Europe, Asia, Africa
and America.

The gallery will be open every day from 10.00 a.m. to 18.00
p.m., Mondays excluded.