site.btaBTA's LIK Magazine Issue Presented at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris

The July issue of the Bulgarian News Agency's (BTA) LIK magazine, titled "Bulgaria in UNESCO", was launched by BTA Director General Kiril Valchev at the UNESCO's headquarters in Paris, France, on Monday.

The event took place on the sidelines of the 7th Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, which is on in Paris under Bulgarian Presidency between July 6 and 16. Valchev presented the magazine during the session's opening ceremony. 

Earlier in the day, Bulgarian Culture Minister Marian Bachev handed a copy of the magazine to UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture Ernesto Ottone.

LIK Editor-in-Chief Georgi Lozanov and UNESCO Regional Centre for Safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Southeast Europe Executive Director Irena Todorova joined the event via video link from BTA's MaxiM Multimedia Centre in Sofia. Guests at the agency's 33 national press clubs and eight abroad also shared in the launch remotely.
 
The July LIK, which was released simultaneously in three language versions: Bulgarian, English, and French, presents the ten Bulgarian sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List: seven cultural sites (the Boyana Church, the Madara Rider, the Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak, the Thracian Tomb of Sveshtari, the Rock-Hewn Churches of Ivanovo, the Rila Monastery, the Ancient City of Nessebar) and three natural sites (the Srebarna Nature Reserve, Pirin National Park, and the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of Central Balkan National Park (as part of the transnational UNESCO listing of the Carpathian and Other Regions of Europe).

The magazine also features Bulgaria’s eight entries on UNESCO’s lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage: the songs and dances of the Bistritsa Babi, the Nestinarstvo firedancing ritual, Chiprovtsi carpets, the Surova festival in the Pernik region, the Koprivshtitsa Festival of Folklore, the Bulgarian community centre (chitalishte), the Martenitsa tradition, Visoko multipart singing from Dolen and Satovcha (Southwestern Bulgaria), as well as the proposed inscription of the Bulgarian bagpipe and bagpiping tradition.

Another item describes the work of the National Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage, whose mission is the comprehensive documentation, preservation, and promotion of folklore traditions, and the relevant records necessary for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage.

LIK runs, in chronological order, a selection of its archive news coverage of UNESCO dating back just a few years after the organization was established in 1946.

The issue concludes with a look at other Bulgarian sites that deserve UNESCO World Heritage listing: the Varna necropolis, where the world’s oldest wrought gold (over 6,000 years old) was found, and the Salt Works near Provadia, dating back some 7,600 years. It also features the Episcopal Basilica in Plovdiv, the oldest city in Europe, and Bulgaria’s three medieval capitals, Pliska, Veliki Preslav, and Veliko Tarnovo.

"Besides being an acronym of the words Literature, Art, and Culture, LIK is also a word in its own right in Bulgarian, meaning 'face', Valchev said at the launch event, adding that the July issue indeed presents the 'face' of Bulgaria’s contribution to UNESCO. "The ten sites on the UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage List, along with nearly as many festivals and traditions on the intangible heritage lists, furthermore give foreigners a worthwhile reason to come and spend more time in Bulgaria after reading about its UNESCO sites in English and French in the LIK issue," the Director General observed.

Culture Minister Marian Bachev thanked the BTA team and the magazine's editors for their "mission-driven work in reviving an important publication that now speaks to the world in three languages". "It is symbolic and meaningful that the magazine is printed in the LIK typeface, specially created in honour of the Cyrillic alphabet – Bulgaria’s own script, recognized by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage of humanity," he pointed out.

UNESCO World Heritage Centre Director Lazare Eloundou Assomo said at the same event that the publication of the LIK magazine for UNESCO gives all delegates at the session an occasion to discover Bulgaria's role and important contribution to international cooperation in culture and other fields over 60 years.

Prof. Nikolay Nenov, Chair of the 47th Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, said during the launch that "the magazine has done a lot, but in order for it to be able to show more, it is actually required of us to be active, for us to create more, so that we can also be on its pages".

Deputy Tourism Minister Irena Georgieva praised Bulgaria’s role in safeguarding common heritage, noting its ten UNESCO sites strengthen peace, sustainable development and tourism. "These sites are not merely testimonies from the past — they are living links that continue to guide and inspire us," Georgieva said, pledging to involve youth and local communities in their protection.

"In all our hard work on the protection and promotion of intangible cultural heritage, we strive to constantly preserve memory, to preserve living legacies and all the while to seek dialogue, conversation and cooperation not only in the Balkans, but also beyond, said Regional Centre for Safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage in South East Europe Executive Director Irena Todorova, joining the event from Sofia.

"Beyond the undoubted symbolic role of this issue, which comes out at this time when Bulgaria holds the presidency of the UNESCO session, there is a pragmatic side - it can represent the rich activities of UNESCO. Because UNESCO is one of those phenomenal institutions whose role we feel we know very well, but it is so rich and diverse that we cannot give a strong enough impression that we have penetrated their complex institutionality", said LIK magazine Editor-in-Chief Lozanov, speaking at BTA's MaxiM Multimedia Centre.

The 47th Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, runs until July 16 at UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris under the presidency of Bulgaria. As part of the session, Bulgaria will present elements of its cultural and natural heritage. Later Monday, the July issue of LIK magazine – dedicated to Bulgaria and UNESCO – will also be officially presented at UNESCO.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was founded on November 16, 1945. Bulgaria became a member on May 17, 1956, the same year its National Commission for UNESCO was established. The Commission coordinates activities between Bulgarian institutions and UNESCO.

UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee is one of the two governing bodies responsible for implementing the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. It is composed of representatives from 21 countries elected from among the 196 States Parties to the Convention.