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Some of them are now severely damaged or lost, which turns the copies into a valuable historical document.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.
Help us restore the first souvenir line of the House of Humor and Satire!
The idea of creating Gabrovo humor souvenirs arose with the establishment of the House of Humor and Satire more than 53 years ago.
Back in the 70s, prototypes of everyone’s favorite cups appeared, designed by Boris Dimovski – cup halves for Gabrovo “coffee for two”, a stingy sugar bowl, a spoon with a hole, a coffee cup with a glued saucer, a cup for coffee divination, etc.
In 1980–1981, the cartoonist, together with the master of artistic ceramics Nedyalka Kolcheva, further developed and enriched the first souvenir series – witty, humorous and entirely in the spirit of Gabrovo.
Today, 45 years later, we are looking for the missing pieces in order to professionally photograph them and include them in a slideshow for the exhibition “Boris Dimovski – 100-year Birth Anniversary”.
The following souvenirs from the series (1980–1981) are wanted:
Ceramics:
Cup with saucer – set
Teapot, sugar bowl and cup halves set
Coffee, tea and milk set (the teapot has 3 spouts – one for each drink)
Bowl with ornaments (two versions)
Cylindrical vase with relief decoration of a cat
Cup – candlestick
Tile “Gabrovo 81” – face with mustache and inscription
Tile “Gabrovo 81” – cat with inscription
Tile “Gabrovo 81” – female profile
Other materials:
T-shirt with tie – designer model based on a drawing by Dimovski
Wrapping paper and fabric “Made in Gabrovo”
*Below in the gallery you can see what the sought-after souvenirs look like visually.
How you can help
If you keep any of these souvenirs:
Bring it to the Museum of Humor and Satire (68 Bryanska St., Gabrovo) to have it professionally photographed;
it will be returned the same day or the next.
Or send a photo and a short note (when and where the object is from) to press@humorhouse.bg
You can get more information by calling 0884028581
Each object is part of Gabrovo’s memory and brings the smile of its time.
Why we do it
The collected images will be included in a slideshow for the exhibition.
Thus, together we will restore the first souvenir line of the Museum – a project that in 1980 marked the beginning of our visual identity.
Deadline: December 10, 2025
Museum of Humor and Satire, Gabrovo
Cup with saucer – setCup – candlestickBowl with ornaments 1Bowl with ornaments 2Teapot, sugar bowl and cup halves setCoffee, tea and milk set – the teapot has 3 spoutsCylindrical vase with relief decoration of a catTile “Gabrovo 81” – cat with inscriptionTile “Gabrovo 81” – Super CatTile “Gabrovo 81” – cat and mouseT-shirt with tie “Made in Gabrovo”Wrapping paper and fabric “Made in Gabrovo” 1Wrapping paper and fabric “Made in Gabrovo” 2
On the occasion of the anniversary, the Museum of Humor and Satire presents selected works of his in the lobby in front of the library on the third floor.
Professor Ivan Gazdov was born on November 2, 1945 in the city of Yambol.
He graduated from the Art High School in Sofia in 1964 and the National Academy of Arts “Nikolai Pavlovich” in 1970.
Since 1973, he has won a competition for a part-time assistant in the specialty “Poster” and is a teacher at the oldest and most prestigious school of fine arts in Bulgaria.
Ivan Gazdov’s career is associated with systematic work in the field of creating high-quality products in the field of fine arts and intelligent teaching.
For more than 50 years, he has been responsible for the development of creative flair and professional innovations in several generations of Bulgarian artists.
In the period between 1999 and 2003, Ivan Gazdov was the rector of the Academy.
He is the creator of the “Author’s Poster” school in Bulgaria, as well as his own patented style – “Graphicature”.
He works in the field of graphics and graphic design, is the author of several monographs on the poster and numerous articles in the specialized press. He is the winner of numerous awards.
A lot of humor and irony are “woven” into his work. Humor is not understandable by everyone, irony and self-irony – even less so. But still, humor is hope. Art that does not give you hope, that does not inspire you, is the art of hopelessness.
Prof. Gazdov’s ties with the Museum of Humor and Satire began from its very inception. He was a participant in the First International Biennial of Humor and Satire in 1973 in a total of 12 editions of the competition.
Over the years, his donated works to the museum have become an important part of the collection.
We have presented three solo exhibitions of Prof. Gazdov – the first with 50 illustrations to Radoi Ralin’s book “Laugh, Executioner (Clown)” in 1982, “Graphic Art” in 1995 and “Black Touches. A Tribute to Graphic Art” in 2018.
*The photo below is from the album “20 Years of Graphic Art, Ivan Gazdov; The Mystery of Graphic Art by Maria Landova; 101 Selected Works”, which you can view in the museum library.
On October 27, 2025, a Symposium on the “Sin” project was held in the library of the Museum of Humor and Satire – a key event in the preparation of the new permanent exhibition, which will restore and rethink the presentation of the emblematic museum collection, exhibited in the Museum from 1975 to 2022.
About the Project
“Sin – Research and Exhibition Project” focuses on the unique museum collection of 50 copies of frescoes from 16 churches and monasteries in Bulgaria.
Its goal is to support the team in developing a narrative about the collection that is understandable to a modern audience – from field and archival research to interpretive solutions, design and communication with the public.
The corpus of images offers artistic, ethnographic, historical and moral-philosophical layers, putting sacred art, satire and contemporary interpretations of moral themes into dialogue.
Participants and Topics
The symposium brought together curators, art historians, theologians, psychologists, museum specialists, artists and teachers, who presented their analytical texts and research and discussed.
The meeting took place in a spirit of in-depth dialogue and shared commitment to the topic of the collection and contemporary approaches to its presentation – considered not only in a theological, but also in a cultural, social and aesthetic context.
Event facilitator: Margarita Dorovska – Head of the Fine Arts and Exhibition and Fund Activities Department at the museum and author of the project concept.
Authors of the analytical texts:
Prof. Dr. Raina Gavrilova – cultural scientist and historian, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” Dr. Vladimir Dimitrov – art historian, NBU Dr. Slava Yanakieva – cultural scientist and theologian, NBU Svetoslav Stoev – psychologist and social analyst Tchavdar Nikolov – cartoonist and visual satirist Tatyana Tsankova – ethnologist and long-time director of the museum Ilina Peneva – curator and PR, Christo and Jeanne-Claude Center, Gabrovo (results of field research) Sava Hristov – project manager, manager of Vidima Gallery, Sevlievo
Results and next steps
The event laid the foundations for the meaningful and interpretative process that will shape the new permanent exhibition “Sin”.
The presented reports and discussions will be used in:
Finalizing the exhibition concept Preparing the accompanying monograph Creating a mobile exhibition Developing a project website
The video documentation from the symposium will support the work of the curatorial team in the next stages of the project.
This project is implemented with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture.
Photo with books from the library of Museum of humor and satire
Over the past two months a team from the Museum of Humor and Satire conducted and processed six interviews with Bulgarian humorists from various fields – cartoonists, writers, actors.
The conversations are part of the museum’s commitments as an associated partner in the international project HUMLIT, which began in early 2025.
The participants were asked 22 questions prepared by the entire Project Advisory Commitee team (participants from Poland, Romania, Estonia, the Czech Republic, and Spain).
The main goal was to explore the production of humor and its perception by the audience.
How did you start creating humorous content? Are there any topics that you consider unacceptable in humor? What general knowledge does the audience need to have to appreciate your humor? What is the role of humor in society today and will this change in the future?
These were some of the questions answered by the part of voices of Bulgarian humor – from different generations and genres – and share their experience, philosophy, and mission: Veselin Zidarov (cartoonist and writer), Svetlin Stefanov (professional artist, cartoonist, and woodcarver), Vesel Tsankov (humorist writer and editor on the Humor and Satire team at the Hristo Botev program of the Bulgarian National Radio), Dimitar Ivanov-Kapitana (puppet and stand-up actor, ventriloquist), Alla and ChavdarGeorgievi (freelance artists and cartoonists, co-founders of the newspaper Pras Press), and Tsvetelina Tsvetkova (freelance writer and humorous content creator).
Below you can read selected quotes from their responses – sincere, thought-provoking and inspiring.
The processing of the interviews for the purposes of the study continues at the moment.
About HUMLIT Project
A key objective of HUMLIT is to understand how humor creation and humor literacy can be used to reframe conflicts and controversial issues in the public sphere and benefit European society by promoting dialogue rather than conflict.
The project is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme and supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions. It involves 25 partner academic and non-academic institutions from Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Denmark, Kosovo, Norway, the Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Poland, with the coordinating institution being the Jagiellonian University in Kraków.
“I have an advantage to the other cartoonists because I deal with both cartoons and aphorisms. Cartoon is in the feminine gender and aphorism is in the masculine (TN: That is so in Bulgarian) and I have married them and I have so many aphorisms. There are tens of thousands of them. And I can extract a cartoon from an aphorism. From the cartoon I can extract the philosophical and make an aphorism.“
Veselin Zidarov
“When I was drawing a cartoons for already three years with two other colleagues who didn’t have the self-confidence of professionals, we met in Bozhentsi (small village near Gabrovo, architectural reserve) and we went to visit Todor Dinov, the father of Bulgarian animation. I told him: “I have a hard time drawing, I make 4-5 sketches until I clarify the idea…” and he went to his studio, because we were in the yard, and took out a tracing paper folded like a fan. And he said: “I make 17 edits.” They were folded like that because back then there was no Photoshop, no computers. So, at least I know from him, he encouraged me not to have a complex about having to make so many edits, that this is a good way to clean everything up and make it perfect.”
Svetlin Stefanov
“When I went to “Shrednoskolsko zname” (a newspaper for the school youth published during the socialist period), Krastyo Krastev, uncle Kaci (Bulgarian writer, humorist), gave me a very important piece of advice. The craft of writing and any sort of creative work is just like doing sports, it has to be practiced continuously. It has to be practiced every day. And with writing, you have to write every day…You have to write all the time. There’s one piece of advice that is recommended that is attributed to different authors. I am not sure who gave it exactly but it said that if you write one page every day, at the end of the year you will have 365 pages. If half of them are good for something, then that’s almost a novel or a large collection of short stories. So, it is important to write continuously, to write every day now. Now a person has what is also called inspiration. Of course, if a person waits for the inspiration to strike, I can tell you from experience, that they will not write anything. So, you have to sit down every day at the same time to create a dynamic stereotype, a habit and you start writing. You may not have anything in your head but you have to sit down, start thinking, start writing some sentences, cross them out, then go back, correct it and somehow the wheel starts turning. “
Vesel Tsankov
“Publishing a satirical newspaper in a tense political environment is a serious mission. Political cartooning helps build a more active civil society. People should participate in political life and determine the future of their lives themselves. When elections come, everyone should go vote, not sit at home or dig in their gardens. The purpose of political cartooning is to provoke and cause reactions. At Pras Press newspaper, we all stand for civilizational, progressive and democratic principles that we share with the general public, and of course there is some missionary work in this.”
Alla and Chavdar Georgievi
“I manage behind this seemingly absurd humor and dialect to say things that I want to say and they sound in a very different way… I have seen reactions, the first signal is laughter at some seemingly simple thing, at some absurd joke, even a vulgar one, and the next moment comes the realization… I can say whatever I want behind this absurd and heavy humor… I don’t think there should be taboo topics. It depends on how they are presented, it depends on how they are written. There are no taboo topics in humor and there shouldn’t be taboo topics in our lives too“
Tsvetelina Tsvetkova
“Well what can I wish for everyone, I wish for them to laugh because laughter is health. If you are sad, when you laugh, the bad things go away. It’s a little bit like when you’re sick and the pain goes away or when you’re angry at something-when you laugh, it all gets better. Humor…humor is a superhero in my opinion. But then again what are superheroes? They are those who manage to save people from evil, from the everyday grind, from reality…from anything, so that they can laugh and never stop laughing because laughter, as they say, will save the world. Or maybe the world lasts because it laughs. It really is like that. It really is. People need to have a sense of humor, to be able to see stuff from a different angle. There are moments when we need to be serious but for the most part…we are a part of this world for an average of 70-80 years, so it’s better to live those years laughing rather than to go through them with frowning expressions and constantly complaining how horrible everything is…”
