The caretaker Minister of Culture Velislav Minekov announced today at a briefing that, according to him, it is inappropriate to spend funds for the first Bulgarian exhibition at the Louvre in 2015.
Six years ago, Bulgaria showed in the most famous museum in the world 1629 artifacts from 17 Bulgarian museums, united in the exhibition “Epic of the Thracian Kings – Archaeological Discoveries in Bulgaria”.
Our treasures were first shown in Washington in 1974 and this is the first attempt to show our history and past, which leads to incredible success, but the success has its financial expression, Minekov explained.
According to him, the exhibition in 1974 brought Bulgaria nearly five million dollars in those years. “After this success, our treasures began to be shown all over the world – wherever possible, several times in Great Britain, in Germany, Italy, Tokyo. And each time it brought huge revenues,” Minekov added.
For the first time, we are paying to present our cultural heritage – such a thing has never happened, the minister said.
Bulgaria pays the Louvre nearly 700,000 levs to place the exhibits in an unfortunate corridor, Minekov announced.
According to him, in order for the event to be properly covered, the expenses of Bulgarian journalists were covered to describe the case as majestic and significant – without being aware that the state had paid for “this happiness of ours”.
“The costs I have established so far are nearly BGN 20,000. Unfortunately, some journalists were more popular than others, which can be seen from the price of their travel allowances. Some are set for BGN 2,000, and others – only for 246 “, the minister added.
“I will not allow such an exhibition of our cultural values in this way, as it is really a pity. Maybe it is good to have some kind of museum exchange,” Minekov added.
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