site.btaCulture Minister Bachev Opens Bulgarian Exhibition at Basilica of Saint Clement in Rome

Bulgaria’s Culture Minister, Marian Bachev, opened Milena Velcheva’s exhibition The Embrace of Peace at the Basilica of Saint Clement in Rome, Bachev’s Ministry said on Tuesday.

“In 2025, the Vatican’s Holy Jubilee Year, the exhibition The Embrace of Peace received the blessing of the Vicar of Rome and is being presented at the Basilica of Saint Clement, the holiest place for Bulgarians in Rome,” the Ministry’s press release said. In his address at the official ceremony, Minister Bachev described the event as “not only an artistic triumph but also a spiritual gesture - a rare and high recognition for contemporary Bulgarian art.” The exhibition will remain on view for the next two weeks. 

Also present at the opening were Father Paul Lawlor, Prior of the Basilica of Saint Clement; Kostadin Kodzhabashev, Bulgaria’s Ambassador to the Vatican and the Sovereign Order of Malta; and Monsignor Andrea Palmieri, Under-Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity. Guests included Ermelina Peycheva, acting head of the Bulgarian Embassy in Italy, and Ilia Lozanov, Director of the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Rome.

The exhibition was organized with the support of the Culture Ministry and in close cooperation with the Bulgarian Embassy to the Holy See, the press release added. Minister Bachev expressed his gratitude to everyone involved in making the exhibition possible. The Minister also brought a specially crafted cast of a missing letter from the Italian inscription beneath the mosaic of Saints Cyril and Methodius. The inscription, which reads “To the Slav educators Sts Cyril and Methodius from the grateful Bulgarian people” (Ai precettori degli Slavi S. Cirillo e Metodio Dal riconoscente popolo bulgaro), was found to be incomplete during the official Bulgarian delegation’s visit to the Vatican earlier this year on the occasion of May 24, the Day of the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius, of the Bulgarian Alphabet, Education and Culture, and of Slav Letters.

During his stay in Rome, Minister Bachev also visited an exhibition by Bulgarian artist Vejdi Rashidov that recently opened at the Bulgarian Cultural Institute, the Ministry added.