site.btaSkopje Exhibition Commemorates Prince Alexander of Battenberg in Connection with Bulgaria's Unification Day

An exhibition commemorating Prince Alexander of Battenberg, organized in connection with the anniversary of the unification of the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia on September 6, 1885, opened at the Bulgarian Culture and Information Centre (BCIC) in Skopje on Wednesday. The exhibition, titled "Sandro - Prince Alexander von Battenberg. A European Fate", will be on until October 15.

BCIC Director Antonia Veleva said at the opening: "September 6 brings to mind the Bulgarian national question which is an expression of the ideal of the National Revival: the ideal of unifying all lands inhabited by Bulgarians." The decision to unify Eastern Rumelia and the Principality "was perhaps the most 'Bulgarian' decision of our leaders at that time", Veleva said. "The bold political act of our predecessors on September 6, 1885, unites and inspires us today in our efforts to build and defend a free and stable Bulgaria."

The Deputy Head of Mission at the Bulgarian Embassy in North Macedonia, Petar Petrov, said: "The Unification was a spontaneous, quintessentially Bulgarian act contrary to the will of the Great Powers, and as such, it would be unthinkable without Alexander of Battenberg. This exhibition provides a different perspective on his personality compared to what we know from the schoolbooks."

The exhibition was organized in collaboration with the Values Foundation of former Bulgarian president Petar Stoyanov's wife Antonina Stoyanova. It consists of 28 display panels presenting previously unknown details about the life of the Bulgarians' first monarch after their liberation from Ottoman Turkish rule in 1878. It shows photographs of Alexander of Battenberg which have never been on public display before. The panels also carry texts in Bulgarian, which can be read in English and German as well, using QR codes.

In a video message, ex-president Stoyanov thanked the Heiligenberg Jugenheim Foundation, which manages the castle of Alexander's family in the German State of Baden-Wuerttemberg and which helped prepare the exhibition. "The memory about Prince Alexander of Battenberg and the memory about one of the greatest events in Bulgaria's modern history remain inextricably linked," Stoyanov said.

The authors of the exhibition have been collecting rare facts, photos and documents for three years, according to Values Foundation Secretary Magdalena Gigova. "I hope it is not just exciting but also adds to your knowledge about this extraordinary person," she told the audience.