site.btaCulture Ministry to Propose New Sites for UNESCO World Heritage List

The Bulgarian Culture Ministry will propose new sites to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, caretaker Culture Minister Nayden Todorov said Thursday during a meeting of the parliamentary Committee on Culture and Media. Todorov noted that Sofia will host the 47th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee from July 6 to 16, 2025, to be attended by around 4,000 guests, 1,700 of whom delegates.

In Todorov's words, the idea is to take the delegates around important places in Bulgaria "which are our pride and by which we want to change the image of Bulgaria". "Our big idea is to try to save Nessebar," Todorov added.

The Ancient City of Nessebar has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983, but construction works over the years have threatened that status.

The Minister also said that there is a "strong shortage of staff" at the National Culture Fund. "At the beginning of the year, almost the entire budget was spent on paying for civil contracts, including salaries. After September, there will be no money for salaries at the Fund," he said. It is necessary to start talks to change this year's budget for the Fund, Todorov added.

In Todorov’s words, another issue for the Fund is related to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. "The first two sessions under the Plan have been launched wrongly, with conditions that do not meet those of the European Commission," the Minister said. He explained that when these two programmes were relaunched, over 150 organisations had already submitted appeals. "Some of the people who had applied under the preliminary conditions appealed. I firmly believe that the appeals cannot be approved by the court, but this stops the whole procedure. The Plan, as you know, has a limited period. By the end of 2025, everything should have happened and been accounted for," Todorov added. 

The Minister noted that on August 8, the Ministry received a letter from the European Commission stating that the new conditions "definitely meet the preliminary plan".

There is also a problem in the cultural heritage sector, Todorov noted. "The Ministry of Culture has a certain amount of people working for cultural heritage, five of them are responsible for museums and galleries, six of them are responsible for immovable cultural heritage," the Minister said. In his words, the department not only cannot react, but cannot even find out about situations and problems in the sector, as they do not have the necessary instruments.

Todorov pointed out that the country has 11 cultural institutes abroad, which are "too few". A total of 23 people work to spread Bulgarian culture around the world, and the budget is laughable, he noted.

The Culture Minister also noted that many foreigners work in Bulgarian state music ensembles. "Do you know why? We have no staff. We have no staff because the pay is tragicomic and parents refuse to let their children study music," Todorov argued. 

According to his data, there are 26 foreigners in Vratsa Symphony Orchestra, 7 in Vidin Sinfonietta, 25 in Sofia Opera, 41 in Ruse Opera, 22 in Burgas Opera, 59 in Stara Zagora Opera, 35 in Plovdiv Opera, and 86 in Varna Opera. The musicians are from various countries, including Azerbaijan, Albania, UK, Colombia, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Turkiye, Ukraine, and the US.