site.btaBessarabian Bulgarian Artist Receives Golden Age Badge of Honour

Modern Bessarabian Bulgarian artist Ivan Shishman received a Golden Age Badge of Honour and a citation for his contribution to the promotion and assertion of Bulgarian culture and national identity.

Shishman was honoured by the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture on the occasion of November 1, the Day of National Awakeners.

The award was presented by Bulgaria's Consul General in Odesa Svetoslav Ivanov at the official opening of an exhibition titled "Ukraine-Britain: Roads of Shared Creativity" at Odesa's UNION International Cultural Centre on December 12.

"I am really thrilled that you are able to engage in cultural and visual-art pursuits during the war. This is a kind of cultural diplomacy at war. Bulgaria provides enormous support to Ukraine in the war with Russia: political, technological, humanitarian and financial," Ivanov said in a greetings address at the opening of the exhibition.

The exhibition is organized by the Volodymyr Prodyvus Fund with the support of Britain and presents works by artists from Central and Southern Ukraine and by their British counterparts. 

Ivan Shishman is member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine and holds the Merited Artist of Ukraine award. He is doing both secular and church painting. The artist restores and icon-paints Orthodox churches and organized international plein-airs. He has received numerous Bulgarian and Ukrainian prizes.