Bulgaria explores Jewish heritage in new photo exhibition
A new exhibition, Shared Memory: Jewish Presence Across the Bulgarian Lands, showcases over 15 years of research into Bulgaria’s Jewish material heritage, featuring 50 photographs by journalist and photographer Anthony Georgieff. It opens at the Kvadrat 500 Gallery on April 16 and will be on until May 17, said the National Gallery.
The images take visitors from Vidin to Burgas and Silistra to Gotse Delchev, capturing synagogues, cemeteries, mosaics, and other historic sites. Many of these sites, some dating back to the 2nd century CE, have been neglected over the years, yet they remain integral to Bulgaria’s cultural history.
Georgieff’s photographs of abandoned cemeteries and crumbling synagogues evoke a sense of loss while celebrating the continued presence of Bulgaria’s Jewish communities, CE Report quotes BTA.
Highlights include mosaics at the Plovdiv Regional Museum of Archaeology, the restored Central Synagogue in Sofia, and former synagogues in Silistra, Ruse, Burgas, and Yambol, now repurposed for art or commerce.
The exhibition was supported by the Shalom Organization of Jews in Bulgaria, NEGEV Organization of Friends of Israel, the Federation of Zionists in Bulgaria, the America for Bulgaria Foundation, and the American Jewish Committee, with BTA as media partner.
Born in 1963, Anthony Georgieff has held over 30 solo exhibitions across Europe and North America and authored 20+ books on Bulgarian historical and cultural heritage.
