site.btaEx-PM Ivan Kostov and Novelist Hristo Karastoyanov’s Widow Named Archive Donors of 2024

Former Bulgarian prime minister Ivan Kostov (in office 1997-2001) has been named Donor of 2024 by the State Archives Agency (SAA) for a donation of documents from his private archive. The SAA presented its annual awards on International Archives Day, June 9.

Kostov shared the award with Sofia Karastoyanova, widow of novelist Hristo Karastoyanov (1950-2024). She donated documents from her husband’s private archive to the State Archive in Yambol, Southeastern Bulgaria.

SAA President Mihail Gruev presented the winners with the SAA Badge of Honour and a diploma.

Deputy Prime Minister Atanas Zafirov said at the ceremony that “archives do not just preserve documents, they preserve our identity, the past that shapes us as a nation, and the stories that remind us who we are.”

Kostov’s daughter Yana accepted the distinction on behalf of her father. She thanked the SAA for assisting the preparation of the donation. Gruev said that if the ex-PM’s archive is arranged in a single pile, it will be over six metres thick. Most of the documents are in hardcopy, but a sizeable portion of them are also in softcopy, Gruev said.

In the Reader of 2024 category, the award went to Genadi Georgiev, who requested and used the largest number of documents last year. He used 491 units from the State Archive in the northeastern town of Shumen to research his family history. This is the second time that Georgiev wins the “reader of the year” award.

Yet another award category, Friend of the Archives 2024, was divided into three subcategories. The Racho Stoyanov Drama Theatre in Gabrovo, Central Bulgaria, was honoured for helping to popularize SAA services. The theatre worked with the local SAA department to make a documentary about the theatre, extensively using archival documents and photographs. The other two Friends of the Archives are the seaside Municipality of Burgas and Gergana Bozinareva, a history teacher in the southern town of Smolyan.

Other awards were conferred on the SAA Employee and the SAA Team of 2024.

An exhibition commemorating Jaroslav Vesin (1860-1915), a Czech painter who lived and worked in Bulgaria, was opened on the sidelines of the SAA award ceremony. In a greetings message read out at the opening of the exhibition, National Assembly Chair Nataliya Kiselova said that Vesin’s contribution to Bulgarian realistic painting is indisputable. Kiselova thanked the SAA for its excellent cooperation with the National Assembly.