site.btaCommunications Ministry, BTA Validate Postage Stamp on Occasion of May 24

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications Grozdan Karadjov and Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) Director General Kiril Valchev officially validated a postage stamp on the occasion of the Day of the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius, the Bulgarian Alphabet, Education and Culture, and Slav Letters. The event took place before the opening of the 20th World Meeting of Bulgarian Media in Sofia. 

Karadjov pointed out that "just as the alphabet consists of seemingly small letters, which when combined begin to speak, so too is the stamp tiny, but acts as a great symbol, as it is a kind of monument and remains forever." He added that philatelists will keep the postage stamp, collect it and generations of Bulgarians will see it, remaining forever in the memory of the Bulgarian people.

He noted that the validation of the stamp had taken place on "the day of the Bulgarian letters, Bulgarian speech and overall the most Bulgarian of all holidays, the one that unites all Bulgarian people." He added that this was also the day of Bulgarian education and culture. "Education, without which we cannot do, and the culture that makes us human", he stressed.

The minister also expressed satisfaction that the 20th World Meeting of Bulgarian Media, organized by BTA, opens on May 24 at the Transport and Communications Ministry and that the ministry can mark "such a bright occasion". He wished success to the meeting and bright futures for the participants and the Bulgarian people. “BTA will always (...) be a symbol of the state of Bulgaria,” he stressed, adding that BTA Director General Kiril Valchev has done a lot for the renewal of BTA and the agency can be proud of the new image it has in the eyes of the public.

Valchev recalled that so far there have been two postage stamps associated with the Bulgarian News Agency, namely in 1998 on the occasion of the agency's 100th anniversary and on the occasion of the 125th anniversary. He pointed out that postage stamps were created to serve as proof of payment for postal services, but they have long since become something more, a commemorative sign of remarkable events.

Regarding the image on the stamp, he noted that its author Lyudmil Veselinov managed to interpret the symbol of the meeting of the Bulgarian media in an extremely powerful way, through the image of the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius at the entrance to the Klisurski Monastery, which bears their name. Valchev added that Bulgarian Patriarch Daniil will serve a prayer service for the well-being of the Bulgarian media in this monastery on Sunday.

The Director General stated that Bulgarians should be proud of their Cyrillic letters and pointed out that Bulgaria has made a great contribution to the EU by introducing the union to its third alphabet, along with the Latin and Greek alphabets. He recalled that when the first postage stamps were created in 1840 It was customary to write in Latin letters and that it took a few decades for Bulgaria to have stamps in its own alphabet.

"For me, the postage stamp is not just a graphic composition, not just a visual product, it carries more than that. It is a modern ambassador of Bulgaria, since it will travel, it will carry the Cyrillic alphabet within itself, the images of the holy brothers," artist and Pernik Regional Governor Lyudmil Veselinov said.

The stamp has a face value of BGN 0.95 and bears the inscription 20th WORLD MEETING OF BULGARIAN MEDIA in Bulgarian and English, as well as the theme of the meeting, Media and Knowledge. BTA's logo is also included.