Starting today, December 10, the Museum of Humor and Satire presents a mini-exhibition of cartoons in which currency is not just money, but a promise of adventures – economic, political and emotional.
What do we know about the introduction of the euro?
Probably as much as we know about the future: few facts, many wishes and a pinch of fear of the unknown.
Will we manage? Will the price of doner kebab increase? Will we become poorer or simply richer in subjects for jokes?
Cartoonists have had an answer for a long time – in their world, the euro is a hero with character, sometimes with a sense of humor, sometimes with a slightly arrogant expression, but always with good intentions.
If we ask economists, the benefits are like in a fairy tale: fewer risks, more stability, easier trade, more efficient markets and a chance to compete with the big players in the world economy without having to worry about exchange rates.
If we ask the artists, the benefits are even clearer: the bigger the currency, the bigger the palette for humor.
This mini-exhibition walks through all of this – the facts, the fears, the hopes and the sheer pleasure of looking at the economy with a smile.
The Eurozone may be a serious club, but the cartoon reminds us that the best way to enter it is with a sense of humor.
The exhibition features cartoons by:
Alla and Chavdar Georgievi, Bulgaria
Wolfgang Schlegel, Germany
Ivan Kutuzov, Bulgaria
Iliyan Savkov, Bulgaria
Manuel Serrano, Spain
Svetlin Stefanov, Bulgaria
Stoyan Dechev, Bulgaria (the cartoon used as the photo for this article)
Our favorite space for the little ones is currently being transformed – the artist Nevena Ekimova and the museum team are already working on its new vision.
The hall is temporarily closed, but from the beginning of spring a renovation awaits you: rich content, a variety of activities and even more space for play, discovery and children’s imagination.
In 2026, “Garden Town” will turn seven – it’s time for a big, well-deserved “growth”.
We remain in a creative transformation… while we prepare the next miracles.
On December 4, in the hall “Prof. Dr. Lyuben Prashkov” of the Veliko Tarnovo University “St. St. Cyril and Methodius”, the mobile exhibition “Sin” of the Museum of Humor and Satire – Gabrovo was presented.
The event was held by invitation and in partnership with the Orthodox Theological Faculty, which hosts the exhibition.
The opening was attended by the Vice-Rector of the University, Prof. Dr. Vihren Buzov, the Dean of the Orthodox Theological Faculty, Prof. Dr. Magdalena Legkostup, deputy deans, lecturers, students, artists and iconographers – which placed the exhibition in a clearly academic and professionally contextualized framework.
The collection, presented under the title “Sin”, includes a total of 50 copies of frescoes and icons related to the theme of sin, made in the 1970s by a team led by art historian Asen Vasiliev. This team also included Professor Lyuben Prashkov – a fact that makes the exhibition of the collection in the hall bearing his name particularly significant.
In Veliko Tarnovo, 28 exhibition pieces presented information about the collection of copies, field studies to locate the originals and interpretations by experts on the subject. The selection makes it possible to trace different visual approaches to the motif of sin in Orthodox art – from stricter moral scenes to those in which elements of criticism, irony and a satirical attitude towards human weaknesses are clearly present. A particularly important context for this collection is the fact that a significant part of the originals from which the copies were made are today severely damaged, altered or inaccessible. Therefore, the copies acquire the value of a visual document and represent a key source for the study of specific mural cycles and iconographic solutions from the second half of the 20th century.
During the presentation, the deputy director of the Museum of Humor and Satire Nela Rachevits outlined the chronology of the creation of the collection and its study 50 years later. The beginning was set in the 1970s at the idea of the satirist and cartoonist Todor Tsonev, who drew attention to the satirical and comical in Bulgarian Renaissance art. On this basis, the museum team began to purposefully search for murals in various temples and monasteries in which reality – and in particular transgressions – are presented in a critical, sometimes grotesque manner.
In 2024, after a team from the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Center’s curatorial school began working on an exhibition related to the collection, the museum took the next step: it became clear that in addition to the collected copies, a contemporary narrative was also needed to connect them with today’s audience. Therefore, work on the collection resumed, now with a focus on additional documentation, analysis, and preparation of a future permanent exhibition.
The current stage of the project is being implemented with funding from the Ministry of Culture in 2024. The goal is to build a comprehensive package of materials – archival documents, photographs, expert texts, and field observations – that would serve as the basis for restructuring the presentation of the collection at the Museum of Humor and Satire. Rachevitz emphasized that plans were underway to renovate the museum building, rethink the tourist flow, and create a special space in which the Sin exhibition will be displayed in a permanent format.
The head of the field research for the project, curator Ilina Peneva, presented to the audience the specific steps in the team’s research work. Within the framework of the project, numerous temples and monasteries in the country were visited, where the condition of the original frescoes, changes in the interior of the temples and the reasons for the loss of certain images were monitored. Peneva emphasized that in a number of places the originals are missing entirely or are severely damaged, which makes the available copies not just “reproductions”, but a real basis for reconstructing the visual history of these frescoes. This material is also the basis for decisions on how to exhibit the panels – in a way that preserves the connection between the historical context, the research data and the perception of the modern audience.
The Dean of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology, Prof. Dr. Magdalena Legkostup, congratulated the museum team for the consistent work on the project and noted that the inclusion of a theologian in future stages would contribute to an even more complete analysis of the presented scenes and inscriptions. She also drew attention to the possibility of using the exhibition in the education of students of theology, Church history and Christian art. Father Dr. Teodor Enchev, who participated in the symposium (September 2025) related to the project, placed the collection in the context of the time in which it was created – the period of communism. He emphasized that some of the best specialists worked on the copies, and the dimensions and compositions follow the originals with high accuracy. According to him, these images clearly show both the condemnation and ridicule of sin –
humor and grotesque, which the artists of the Bulgarian National Revival used boldly and freely.
In the discussion after the presentation, the participants defined the project as an extremely valuable resource for specialists and for all those who work in the field of visual heritage, church history and cultural heritage. The exhibition “Sin” has already been shown in Dryanovo and is about to continue its journey to other cities and institutions. As part of the long-term work on the project, a bilingual monograph is planned to be published in early January, uniting the images and research texts of experts from various fields. By the end of the year, a specialized website is also expected to be launched, where a significant part of the collected materials will be available.
“Sin – a research and exhibition project” is realized with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture, in partnership with the VTU “St. Cyril and Methodius” and the Municipal History Museum in the town of Dryanovo, and the media support of the Bulgarian National Radio Program and BTA.
December 13, 2025, 10:00 AM The Library of the Museum of Humor and Satire Entrance: 5 BGN
We invite you to an extraordinary Christmas adventure! Children often imagine Christmas as a magical world, full of the aroma of cinnamon and bells. But behind this holiday lie stories, secrets and myths that have enriched the imagination of generations before us. And our studio “Stardust” is exactly the place where these stories come to life!
The studio combines storytelling of legends and myths, folklore elements and creative practice. It is built in such a way as to stimulate children’s curiosity about the traditions of Christmas, introducing them to various cultural images (saints, winter spirits, symbols of light) and directing them to create their own interpretation of the Christmas star. The main emphasis is on the connection between theory and creativity, between the acquired knowledge and the child’s personal expression. The workshop puts participants in the role of little researchers and creators who discover the meanings that have become part of the holiday culture.
What awaits you?
Mystical journeys through winter legends We will go back in time to when Saint Nicholas was not only the guardian of sailors, but also a symbol of generosity and kindness. We will see how from his figure the white-bearded old man we know today – Santa Claus, who travels the world with magic reindeer and a sack of gifts, gradually emerged. But… was he always accompanied only by good helpers? We will take a look at old European folklore and tell about the strange, sometimes frightening, but always interesting companions of Santa Claus. Some of them punish, while others scare.
Bulgarian Legends – Magic, Mystery and a Little Mischief What is the mysterious world of Bulgarian folk traditions and beliefs – where, according to legend, the karakondzhuli roam the earth on “dirty days”? A little mischievous, a little mysterious, they are part of folk legends about the dark world between Christmas and Jordan’s Day and the need for light and protection.
Suitable for children from 7 to 12 years old. Registration (places are limited!) A prior registration is required for participation: 0897 424 325 – Elena Milinova, events@humorhouse.bg
*Participation requires advance payment, which is made on site at the museum’s cash desk, 68 Bryanska Street, no later than December 10. The workshop will take place if no less than 5 participants are registered.
Prof. Dr. Lyuben Prashkov Hall (Hall 13), Building 11 of the University of Veliko Tarnovo.
The Orthodox Theological Faculty of the University of Veliko Tarnovo presents a visiting exhibition at the Museum “House of Humor and Satire” – Gabrovo on the topic “SIN” – a contemporary look at the unique museum collection of 50 panels, created in the 1970s, as copies of Renaissance frescoes.
The exhibition was first presented at the Municipal History Museum in Dryanovo, and on December 4 at 2:00 p.m. it will be opened in the “Prof. Dr. Lyuben Prashkov Hall” (Hall 13), Building 11 of the University of Veliko Tarnovo.
The Orthodox Theological Faculty maintains good partnership relations with the museum in Gabrovo, and plans are being made for joint projects in the future.
Half a century later, the museum team is conducting a large-scale study of all the temples from which the original frescoes originate.
Some of them are now severely damaged or lost, which turns the copies into a valuable historical document.
A monograph will be published as part of the project, which will present the entire process of research, analysis and interpretation of the collection as a basis for its future re-exhibition.
The exhibition includes:
– archival materials and reproductions from the collection;
– footage from field research;
– analytical texts by specialists in the fields of art, theology and psychology;
– contemporary interpretations of the place of the theme of sin in our cultural memory.
“Sin – a research and exhibition project” is realized with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture, in partnership with the University of Applied Sciences “St. Cyril and Methodius” and the Municipal History Museum in the town of Dryanovo, and the media support of the Bulgarian National Radio Program and BTA.
On November 26, the opening of the mobile exhibition “SIN” took place at the Ikonomov House at the Historical Museum – Dryanovo – a key stage in the new research and exhibition project of the Museum of Humor and Satire.
It presents a contemporary look at 50 fresco copies created in the 1970s, through which the theme of sin and its visual manifestations in the Bulgarian church tradition are explored.
The exhibition is organized into 28 panels, tracing the creation of the collection, the path of the images through time and their place in today’s visual imagination.
The Deputy Director of the Museum of Humor and Satire, Nela Ratchevitz, inaugurated the event and emphasized that the mobile exhibition is conceived as an interim “platform for reflection”, which makes visible the results of the ongoing research and prepares the basis for the renewal of the permanent exhibition “Sin”.
She emphasized the museum’s task of interpreting heritage not literally, but through contemporary cultural, social and psychological contexts.
Sava Hristov – manager of the Vidima Gallery and head of the Sin Research and Exhibition Project, highlighted the intensive and fruitful work on it, the significance of the prepared research and interpretive analyses and the added value of the professional contacts built during the implementation.
The official guest was the Deputy Mayor of the Municipality of Dryanovo Dilyana Dzhedzheva. The importance of the partnership between the institutions and the shared aspiration for a contemporary interpretation of cultural heritage was emphasized.
The Director of the Historical Museum – Dryanovo Ivan Hristov welcomed the guests and noted that it is an honor for the institution that the Dryanovo public is the first to see this working phase of the future exhibition transformation.
The project brings together experts from various fields: Prof. Raina Gavrilova (history of culture, Sofia University); Ch. Vladimir Dimitrov (History and Theory of Art, NBU); Dr. Slava Yanakieva (NBU); organizational psychologist Svetoslav Stoev; cartoonist Tchavdar Nikolov (“Pras Press”); Tatyana Tsankova – former director of the museum.
The field research, carried out by Ilina Peneva and Ivo Deliyski, covers churches and monasteries in Yablanitsa, Bachkovo, Churilovo, Kurilo, Lozno, Leshko, the Rila and Troyan monasteries, etc.
The collected documentation reveals a picture of preserved and lost frescoes – testimonies of tradition, memory and oblivion.
The central emphasis of the exhibition is the multi-layered reading of the images. “SIN” presents them not as edifying symbols, but as living cultural forms, whose meanings change over time.
Archival footage, field photographs, documents and expert analyses intertwine to show how sin is transferred from a moral category to a cultural issue – and how it can be presented in a museum environment today.
The materials and conclusions from the project will form the basis of the renewed permanent exhibition “Sin”, the development of which is pending.
In parallel, a website and a monograph are being prepared, which will unite the scientific and visual documentation.
The Sin Research and Exhibition Project s being implemented with the support of the Ministry of Culture, in partnership with the History Museum – Dryanovo and the Veliko Tarnovo University “St. Cyril and Methodius”.
The Museum of Humor and Satire presents in Dryanovo the first visit of the mobile exhibition “SIN” – a contemporary look at the unique museum collection of 50 panels, created in the 1970s as copies of Renaissance frescoes with satirical and instructive motifs.
Half a century later, the museum team conducted a large-scale study of all the temples from which the original frescoes originated.
Some of them are now severely damaged or lost, which turns the copies into a valuable historical document.
A monograph is also being prepared as part of the project, which will present the entire process of research, analysis and interpretation of the collection as a basis for its future re-exhibition.
The exhibition includes:
– archival materials and reproductions from the collection;
– footage from field research;
– analytical texts by specialists in the fields of art, theology and psychology;
– contemporary interpretations of the place of the theme of sin in our cultural memory.
“SIN” invites the audience to enter into a dialogue with the past and discover how moral, laughter and human weaknesses remain relevant throughout the centuries.
The Sin Research and Exhibition Project is implemented with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and in partnership with the Historical Museum – Dryanovo.
Gabrovo premiere: November 27, 6:00 PM, Museum of Humor and Satire
Free admission
A film about the great Bulgarian artist Boris Dimovski, whose works reflect almost half a century of controversial Bulgarian history, in which he always finds his own unique way to express his civic and creative position.
The screening is a side event to the exhibition “Boris Dimovski – 100-Year Birth Anniversary”.
During the Gabrovo premiere, you will have the opportunity to meet part of the production team: screenwriter Kalin Nikolov, director Ralitsa Dimitrova and Plamen Gerasimov, cinematographer.
From the creators of the film:
“Boris Dimovski is among the most popular Bulgarian artists in our country since the second half of the 20th century. The significance of his art makes him an artist who is also a spokesman for the public conscience, the face of honesty.
As early as 1968, one of his drawings turned the attitude towards our culture in general upside down, showing what enormous power satire can have.
This is not just a film about an artist, despite Boris Dimovski’s undoubted qualities. His works are a painfully distorted, sadly realistic reflection of the events he experienced. We tell the story of a man who passed through time with dignity, with the help of his works. This is an attempt to restore the memory of the artist and the person – both in the people who have experienced his works since their first appearance on the pages of books or newspapers, and in the younger generation, for whom this story is an occasion and an opportunity to see and understand this time.
The film intertwines two visual and semantic layers, united by the figure of Boris Dimovski – the complex and turbulent historical events that his life went through and which he reflected in his cartoons; and the development of cultural processes in our country since the second half of the twentieth century, as his work connects him with a number of the most exciting moments.
The film strives to make the figure of Dimovski interesting and accessible to the younger generation, which is largely unaware of his work and qualities. The goal is not just to preserve the memory of the personality of Boris Dimovski in a showcase, but also to create a space for the interaction of his work with the present.”
BORIS DIMOVSKI, THE DISAGREER
Producer: B PLUS FILM
Screenwriter: Kalin Nikolov
Director: Ralitsa Dimitrova
Cinematographer: Plamen Gerasimov
Sound: Mariana Valkanova, Georgi Tsvetkov
The film was created with the financial support of the Culture Program of the SOFIA MUNICIPALITY
“This exhibition is a return to two of the sources of my (poor, in my opinion) imagination (but the world is rich and its content lurks everywhere).
The first are the pictures seen back in the late 1950s and still viewed with interest through a now retro bakelite diascope from the last century. It is preserved in our country in its original box and even with the instructions – “Model E”, a beautiful rarity once, before our television. These pictures were arranged in slide drums with the seven wonders of the world, the wedding of the Queen of England, parrots, Hollywood shows, the ascent of Vesuvius. The last one especially always reminded me of the final stop of tram five (the final stop of the line with the final traverse) and the start up Vitosha with the expectation that we would someday come across the terrible crater.
The second moment is my graphics for the 1970 film “Catch 22” based on the famous novel by Joseph Heller, skillfully adapted to the writer’s black humor. The genre of my cartoon (one of the things I have done in print – both as independent graphics and drawings) is mainly of the “black humor” type: this amuses me even more since I generally don’t understand anything about art, but in my field this is rarely of urgent need to anyone.
To all this I add a few satirical comics, as well as two satirical drawings from different times – my host is a museum of all genres in the funny and the sharp, I would not like to overlook that fact…
There is also a long drawing that slowly grows from exhibition to exhibition, perhaps until it itself becomes one. Its theme is reality, people and destinies – important to us, wherever they came from or will come to us…”
Kalin Nikolov
Kalin Nikolov was born in 1956 in Sofia.
He graduated from the Art High School and the Nikolay Pavlovich Institute of Fine Arts, majoring in Graphics and Graphic Technologies under Prof. Dr. Evtim Tomov.
He studied and worked with the artist Boris Dimovski.
He is currently a curator at the Graphic Department of the National Gallery, Sofia.
He has had solo exhibitions in Sofia, Gabrovo, Veliko Tarnovo, Hamburg, Athens, Budapest, Skopje, Ohrid, Dimitrovgrad and other cities.
He was an artist in newspapers such as “Vecherni noviny”, “Reporter 7”, “La Strаda” and the magazines “FEP”, “Terra Fantasia”, “Usuri”.
He is the author of books, monographs and research studies on Bulgarian and world fine arts.
Nikolov is a researcher of forgotten pages of Bulgarian cultural history – the Union of South Slavic Artists “Lada” (1904-1906), the Ukrainian sculptor Mykhailo Parashchuk and repressed Bulgarian artists.
On November 21, the Museum of Humor and Satire joins the national Reading Day initiative with its own cheerful edition – in our museum library!
Throughout the day, every visitor is invited to stop for a moment, reach for a book and share the joy of reading – with texts that make us laugh.
You can expect:
– A treat from the golden fund of humor – excerpts from favorite authors, read by the library team and guests during the day;
– A pinch of laughter to the daily menu – a corner with books and jokes with aphorisms, epigrams and jokes;
– Reading – a healthy dessert for the body and soul – time for a photo with a selected book.
On your way out, share your impressions on the flipchart board in the library to leave the best sign that reading is worth it.
When: November 21 (Friday), all day
Where: Library of the Museum of Humor and Satire, Gabrovo
The third National Reading Day – Bulgaria will take place this year on November 21.
The initiative follows the German Reading Day and from 2025 is synchronized with the European Authors’ Day Read. for Real.
For another year, the event is organized by the Reading Foundation, the Children’s Books Foundation and the Books and Reading Association.
Anyone can participate – schools, kindergartens, libraries, community centers, families, individual readers, institutions, organizations and businesses.
Anyone can get involved by registering for participation and dedicating time for free reading or by organizing readings, discussions and other initiatives.
The main motivation of the organizers is to focus attention on overcoming functional illiteracy — according to PISA 2022, 53% of 15-year-olds do not understand what they read, which also affects the development of the environment and undermines democratic principles.
We were visited by sixth grade students from the 11th Secondary School “Raicho Karolev”, Gabrovo.
