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issue 4, year XIII, 2006 |
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H. E. VLADIMIR ATANASOV, AMBASSADOR OF BULGARIA IN SLOVENIA
Interview by Tsvetanka Elenkova
page 4
FAVOURITE No.13 OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
Valentin Kostov
page 6
Slovenia is the first of the newly accepted 10 countries in the EU, which will introduce the euro
The first former socialist country, which will introduce the common European currency, only 15 years ago did not exist as an independent state on the geographic map. This can be explained to some extent by a survey of 2004 which showed that the Slovenes were the most hard-working people in Europe. The comparison of the time for work, based on data from 1998 to 2002, showed that Slovene men worked averagely 7 hours and 44 minutes, and Slovene women - 8 hours and 47 minutes. This makes the Slovenian people the most industrious people among the highly developed West European countries. Slovenia has the highest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of the population among the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. By this indicator the country is well ahead even of Malta and Cyprus with its 23 250 USD per person created national wealth. This index constitutes 84% of the average percentage for EU, being higher in comparison with some of the more long-standing members of the Union. Inflation in Slovenia last year was 2,5%. The country has constantly increased the rate of its GDP in the last few years. If in 2003 it was 2,7%, in the next year its rate grew to 4,2%, and came to 4% in 2005.
FINLAND’S PRESIDENSY OF THE EU: PRIORITIES
page 8
ENERGY RESOURCES AND ENERGY INTENSITY OF EUROPEAN ECONOMIES
Kostadin Daskalov
page 11
The cheap and abundant import of energy from the Middle East contributed significantly to the European economic growth in the sixties. The oil crisis in 1973, however, reminded the Europeans about all the risks stemming from foreign energy supplies. France is the most determined country in undertaking strategic measures against energy dependence by massive widening of its nuclear power output. In 2003 78% of electrical energy in France was generated by nuclear power stations, while in Sweden only 50% were of that origin. Thus, in 2003, France ranked second as producer of electrical energy from nuclear power plants, and the first in the world in the export of electrical energy.
EU’s reserves as far as energy resources are concerned, are ever more diminishing. Added to this, are the high production expenditures for coal and oil output, being higher than those in the Middle East.
BULGARIAN-SLOVENIAN ECONOMIC RELATIONS
page 13
ANTON TOMA BEZENSHEK - A GREAT SLOVENE FOR BULGARIA
Dr. Nikola R. Kazanski, Ph.D.
page 16
Anton Bezenshek ran the first course in stenography in Bulgaria, and it was there that the first Bulgarian stenographers learnt shorthand. By 1905 he had taught over 1 500 Bulgarians altogether how to write in shorthand. Since 1881 Bezenshek had been taking down in shorthand the debates of the District Assembly in Eastern Rumelia, as well. In the period 1881-1883 he published his shorthand system for the Bulgarian language. His activity as a stenographer brought him wide international acclaim. The organization of the stenographers’ bureau at the National Assembly was under his guidance. At the Second Stenographers’ Congress in Paris in 1889 Anton Bezenshek was an honorary guest, made a plenary report and was awarded a gold medal for his extraordinary merits for the development of stenography in Bulgaria. He was also delegate, in the name of Bulgaria, at the Third International Shorthand Congress in Munich in 1905.
PSYCHOANALYSIS - SIGMUND FREUD’S DISCOVERY
Mimoza Dimitrova, psychoanalyst, Bulgarian space for psychoanalysis
page 19
Sigmund Freud found out that mental conflict was of sexual nature and sent us back to early childhood. After the stage of auto-eroticism, the first love object for the two sexes is the Mother. Then comes the period, when children concentrate their wishes upon the parent from the opposite sex and develop hostile feelings towards the parent of the same sex. Further on, Freud worked out the idea of the Oedipus complex, which is universal, by depicting two types - positive, characterized by love for the parent of the opposite sex, and negative - connected with jealousy for the parent of the opposite sex. Passing through the Oedipus phase has a decisive influence for mental development. The difference between psychosis and neurosis runs through this ability for triangulation. The solution of the Oedipus complex reveals before the human being the all-round access to his ability to love and work, i.e. to create and share with others.
SLOVENIAN PERSONALITIES FOR EUROPE
Ivana Kobilica, Primoz Trubar, Jurij Vega,
Jozef Stefan, France Preseren, Ivan Cankar,
Edvard Kocbek, Hermann Potocnik
page 22
WINE DROPS FROM MEDANA
About a trip to Slovenia
Sylvia Choleva
page 27
We are on our way to Novo Mesto - a small town, built way back in medieval times on a picturesque curve of the Krka river. Founded in 1365 by the Austrian Duke Rudolf IV, the town is famous with its Gothic church “St. Nicholas”, painted by Tintoretto, as well as with the Franciscan monastery with church, which had been built, burnt, and then built again. There is a pharmaceutical factory in Nove Mesto. The vicinity is extremely beautiful, and the evaporations over the river at dusk offer an irresistible sight. We are traveling to Medana, Italy, which is only 2 km away from here. A church with a tall belfry towers nearby, from where God reminds us at equal intervals of time about His invisible presence. Slovenes possess the incredible quality to combine accuracy with frivolity in equal proportions. Along with that, all Slovenes without exception, with whom I communicate, are affable people, calm and cheerful, and are always ready to help, without intruding or fawning.
INIMITABLE IN VIRTUE: 600 YEARS OF THE DEATH OF ST. KYPRIAN THE BULGARIAN - METROPOLITAN OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA
Dr. Goran Blagoev, BNT
page 30
Among the numerous ancient golden-domed churches in Moscow, one has a special place in Russian spirituality and history. This is the “Uspenski sobor” (“The Assumption Cathedral”) in the Kremlin. Princes and Emperors were crowned there, state acts were proclaimed, public prayers were held in crucial moments for the country. There are a number of coffins along the church’s walls: from 14th to 17th c. metropolitans of Moscow and all Russia have been buried there. This is the cathedral temple of the Heads of the Russian church. And of their tombs, too. But only a few know that not all of them were born on Russian land. That among them a... Bulgarian had been buried, too! St. Kyprian - metropolitan of Moscow and all Russia. One of the greatest authorities of the Orthodox world in the troublesome 14th c.
LJUBLJANA THE SLAVONIC HEART
Venelin Sapundjiev
page 34
It had all started as a part of the Roman province Dalmatia (1st c.AD); then came the settlement of the Southern Slavs (6th c.); the adoption of Christianity (8-9th c.) followed; then it was part of the kingdom of the Franks (788); feudal duchies were formed, such as Carinthia, Styria, Krajna; then, in 1282, it fell again within the boundaries of a foreign country - the Austrian Empire; in 1918 it became part of the Yugoslav Kingdom, then came Tito’s Federation. And a sort of historical resurrection followed in the crucial 1991 - with the dignity for independence. These only 20 000 sq. km, however, can seem boundless to you. Because they “close” spaces - different “in colour and taste”, in which nature, as in Bulgaria, sort of strives to astonish the eyes with its endless strips of the Adriatic Sea, with the evergreen colour of the Slovene Alps. And as though this is not enough for you, you can “glide” down Upper Sava plain and reach as far as eyes can see...
THE 26TH EDITION OF THE INTERNATIONAL GRAPHICS BIENNIAL 2005, LJUBLJANA
Plamena Dimitrova-Racheva,
Curator of the Bulgarian project
page 40
Bulgarian artists have been taking part in the International Graphics Biennial in Ljubljana since 1955. This is the only forum for modern art in which our creators have their permanent international presence. It is in Ljubljana that they have established the most fruitful form of cooperation and interaction with foreign graphics. 82 Bulgarian artists altogether have exhibited their graphics at the International Graphics Biennial in Ljubljana for the last 50 years. Among the participants are Borislav Stoev, Rumen Skorchev, Ivan Ninov, Mikhail Petkov, Georgi Lechev, Kostadinka Miladinova, Zafir Yonchev, Gredi Assa, Zakhari Kamenov, Elena Panayotova, Atanas Vassilev, Vanko Uroumov, Valery Chakalov, Plamen Monev, Darina Peeva, Dimo Kolibarov, Ivan Dimov, Maria Duhteva, Milko Pavlov, Sasho Anastasov, Rumen Nechev, Yavora Petrova, Stefan Bojkov, and others.
ABOUT BRAZIL (NOT) AS BRAZIL
Rumen Stoyanov
page 44
With its territory of 8,547,404 sq. km Brazil ranks fifth by surface in the world and surpasses Australia by nearly 900 000 sq. km. Brazil is a synonym of football and carnival, and there is nothing bad in that. But the country also builds middle distance aircrafts of high technical level. During the Portugal colonization slave traders brought there Africans who numbered between 3,5 and 13,5 millions. Brazil is the country with the greatest Catholic population in the world, which gives her a particularly important place in the Christian community. Without its continentalness, the tropical giant would not have been endowed with the greatest bio-diversity, vegetable and animal, mainly in Amazonia, which assigns Brazil a supreme responsibility in the sensible preservation of this world wealth.
LJUBLJYANA’S COAT OF ARMS
Violeta Velikova-Kosheleva
page 49
One of the remarkable details that is seen in historical symbols and in modern life is a town’s coat of arms. The main figure of Ljubljana’s coat of arms is the dragon. It is associated with the ancient Hellenic legend about Jason and the Argonauts. As the legend goes, the Argonauts, in their efforts to reach the sea and return to Hellas, crossed the Danube, then the rivers Sava and Ljubljanica and came to impassable marshes at the end of a wooded site. They built there a camp in order to spend the winter. During their sojourn, the brave men were attacked by the local dragon, but managed to defeat him.
SLOVENIA - ORIGINAL AND BEAUTIFUL
Ivan Germanov
page 50
No matter how much a Slovene’s everyday life has changed, his house keeps carrying the whiff of the carnation, which for him is what the rose is for the Bulgarian - namely, the most lyrical symbol of the nation. The threshold of some old Slovene houses is high - a custom linked with snakes. Snake epitomizes evil, but in earlier times the snake was thought to be a bewitched girl and some peasants used to bring snakes in their homes in order to keep them from evil forces. By nature, Slovenes are extremely business-like people, and well organized. They are not severe, however, but are, rather, agreeable in a Slavonic way. They are taciturn, yet witty, and can take you by surprise. There is a specific section in their folklore, devoted to the so called “vinski”, or “wine” songs for revellers. Another typical feature of the Slovene people is its language, which is an entirely independent language, belonging to the South Slavonic group. It is one of the languages in the world, which has kept to this day the so called double number.
CONCERNING OUR DIGNITY
Interview with Michele Obit,
Chairman of the Slovene Cultural Society
“Ivan Trinko” in Udine, Italy
page 53
Slovenia’s population numbers 2 million people, 83.1% of whom (by data from 2002) are Slovenes. There are two big minority groups in Slovenia - Italians and Hungarians, whose rights are safeguarded by the Constitution. The other ethnic groups include Croats, Serbs, Bosniaks, Macedonians, Montenegrins and Albanians. The law defines the status and the special rights of the Roma communities in Slovenia. Due to historical reasons Slovene minorities have been formed in the neighbouring countries, namely in Italy, Austria and Hungary. Between 250 000 and 400 000 Slovenes live outside the country, on other continents and in the EU member-states. The most impressive and well organized Slovene minority is in Italy.
GANCHO SAVOV - AMBASSADOR OF SLOVENE LITERATURE AND CULTURE
page 54
In June 2006 Slovenia’s award for popularization of Slovene literature and culture was presented to Gancho Savov - a literary scientist, translator, University lecturer and publicist. Being awarded, he is given the honorary title Ambassador of Slovene literature and culture around the world. The award bears the name of the great Slovene scientist and translator Tone Pretnar and is bestowed every other year at the Herberstein literary meetings in the town of Velenje. Gancho Savov is the third holder of this award so far - after the Austrian Ludwig Hartinger and the Czech Frantishek Bernhard.
130 YEARS OF SAVA OGNYANOV’S BIRTH - ACTOR OF EUROPEAN VALUE
Ognyan Stamboliev
page 55
PHOTOATELIER PRESENTS
Dr. SOUBAI CHAFIQ
page 57
LITART PRESENTS
ALESH STEGER: I LIKE TO WORK WITH CREATORS FROM OTHER ARTS
Interview by Stefka Hrussanova
page 61
PRIMOS CHUCHNIK
page 63
DANIEL CALABRESE
page 64
ATELIER PRESENTS
EMILIA YAKIMOVA
THE ART - A WAY OF BEING YOURSELF
Dr. Erika Lazarova, Ph.D.
page 66
DIMITER NIKOLAEV’S CERAMICS: A FINE FEELING FOR DIALOGUE
Dochka Kissyova-Gogova
page 68
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| Translated by Galia B. Cholakova |
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