October 22, 2023 marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of the great Bulgarian artist Zlatyu Boyadjiev. On this occasion, on the very day of his birth, the Municipality of Plovdiv, the Ancient Plovdiv Municipal Institute and the Zlatyu Boyadjiev Foundation are organizing a celebration in the Zlatyu Boyadjiev House-Museum in the Old Town (the house of Dr. Stoyan Chomakov), where the artist's permanent exhibition is located. The event starts at 11.00.

The programme includes two events. Official opening of an exhibition dedicated to the 120th anniversary of the birth of Zlatyu Boyadjiev and presentation of a luxury album entitled.

The celebration in the emblematic house will be attended by Mayor Zdravko Dimitrov, Minister of Culture Krustyu Krastev and Petar Stoyanov - President of Bulgaria (22 January 1997 - 22 January 2002), who is also Honorary Chairman of the Zlatyu Boyadjiev Foundation.

The musical host of the event will be the talented graduates of the National School of Music and Dance "Dobrin Petkov" - Plovdiv, who will provide the musical background.

The exhibition, which will be opened, includes works from the collection of the City Art Gallery - Plovdiv and the Ancient Plovdiv Municipal Institute, as well as unseen works by Zlatyu Boyadjiev, part of the collection of KCM AD, specially exhibited on the occasion of the anniversary. A documentary exhibition on the artist's life and work will also be presented, as well as personal belongings provided by Zlatin Boyadjiev's heir. The exhibitions have been prepared by the team of Valya Angelova, curator of the Zlatyu Boyadjiev House-Museum - Ancient Plovdiv Municipal Institute and Teodor Karakolev from the Bulgarian Architectural Modernism Foundation with the assistance of Zlatin Boyadjiev.

The album with portraits by Zlatyu Boyadjiev, compiled by Dimitar Pampulov will be presented by the publisher arch. Stefan Dobrev. The luxurious bilingual edition in Bulgarian and English contains numerous portraits collected in 260 pages. Among them are portraits of parents, relatives, great Bulgarians, painters, artists, writers, portraits from Paris, personalities from near and far, as well as portraits from five private collections - the Boyadzhiev family, Boyan Radev, Dimitar Indzhov, Dimitar Georgiev and Krasimir Dachev. The third part of the album includes self-portraits of Zlatyu Boyadjiev and a biography. The price of the album is 40 leva, it is available in the house now and will be available for sale on the day of the celebration.

"The two hundred or so first-rate portraits by Zlatyu Boyadjiev presented in this unique art album, painted first with the right hand (until 1951) and then with the left, fall far short of encompassing the artist's vast portrait oeuvre, especially that created during his second period. This is an encounter with an astonishing world phenomenon in art, an invaluable part of the Bulgarian painting heritage", emphasizes the compiler of the book Dimitar Pampulov. The album was published with the financial support of the National Culture Fund and the Municipality of Plovdiv under Component 4 "Works of Plovdiv writers and important publications for the city", as well as with the support of Rozaimpex Ltd. and KCM 2000 Group.

On the same day - October 22, a presentation "Chronos and Topos in the Canvases of Zlatyu Boyadzhiev" will be held for tourists and visitors in the "Zlatyu Boyadzhiev" house-museum between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. It belongs to the curator of the house, Valya Angelova, and transports the audience to the time and space of the canvases of Zlatyu Boyadzhiev.

At 16:00 there will be a screening of the documentary short film "The Artist Zlatyu Boyadjiev", created in 1961. The script is by Haim Oliver and Tsanko Lavrenov, the director is Ivan Popov and the cinematographer is Barukh Lazarov. The film won second prize for documentary at the first Golden Rose Bulgarian Film Festival in Varna in 1961 and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival the same year.

The screening and the presentation were part of the program of this year's "Old Town Festivities", in the center of which, besides the promotion of the movable and immovable historical heritage of Ancient Plovdiv, was the celebration of the 120th anniversary of the birth of the artist Zlatyu Boyadjiev.

Entrance to the events is free!