THE EXHIBITION OF THRACIAN TREASURES FROM BULGARIA OPENS AT THE LOUVRE

The exhibition of Thracian treasures from Bulgaria entitled “The Saga of the Thracian Kings – Archaeological discoveries in Bulgaria” opens at the Louvre Museum in Paris at 18.30 CET on 14th of April.

The artefacts will be displayed in 4 halls in the Louvre. The exhibition will run until 20th of July. Over 1,600 items of ancient Thrace and the powerful Odrysian kingdom will be shown to the public in Paris. The Louvre museum welcomes about 30,000 visitors per day. According to estimates, some 4 milllion people are expected to view the exhibition.

The preparation for Bulgaria’s Thracian exhibition started in 2012.

The future of the Louvre goes through the cultural heritage of Bulgaria, said the then President of the Louvre Museum, Henri Loyrette, at a meeting with the Bulgarian Minister of Culture, Vezhdi Rashidov in 2012. The previous summer, Mr. Henri Loyrette and his advisors visited museums in Bulgaria and experienced a ''cultural shock”, Rashidov explained.

He says that Loyrette told him he was impressed by Bulgaria’s beauty and richness of cultural heritage, as well as the depth of the various civilizations who had created it.

Thus Bulgaria became the fifth country in the world, which had a long-term agreement with the Louvre museum. The first exhibition was agreed to be dedicated to the ancient Thrace. It will focus on the life and customs of the Thracian tribes, their civilization and interactions with other civilisations. In addition to the impressive gold treasures, the exhibition will include pottery and other items seeking to present for the first time the lifestyle and customs of the the Odrysian kingdom between 3rd and 5th century - its rulers, its everyday life, and its neighbours.

Prof. Totko Stoyanov, a Bulgarian archaeologist and curator of the exhibition says that the idea is to present the Ancient Thrace, the lifestyle and customs of individual Thracian tribes and the Greeks who lived in Thrace, in their entirety.

The formal agreement was signed with the current President of the Louvre, Jean-Luc Martinez and the project developed.

The feature of the exhibition will be the finds related to the Thracian King Seuthes III /who ruled during the last decades of the IV c. BC/ and other objects, discovered in his tomb in the mound "Golyamata Kosmatka" ("The big Kosmatka") by the late Bulgarian archaeologist Dr. Georgi Kitov. The highlight will be the bronze head of King Seuthes III, his wreath of gold and the wreath from Zlatinitsa treasure.

Associate professor Milena Tonkova, a Bulgarian archaeologist and curator of the exhibition says she thinks the ancient Thracians wore them. The objects were made so they could clink. They are solid, very well made, too representative and too beautiful to assume they were intended only for burials, she explains.

Alexandre Baralis, an archeologist, curator of the exhibition from the Louvre Museum says that modern public know only some aspects of ancient history - Greece, Rome and Asia Minor. The heritage from the Thracians is dazzlingly rich. So we would like to be displayed on a stage compatible with the magnificence of its creators and its scale, he added.

Vezhdi Rashidov, Bulgaria’s Minister of Culture says that by being exhibited in the Louvre, Bulgarian culture has entered the world history and Bulgaria is now amongst the leading countries in the world’s cultural heritage.

The exhibition will start with two opening ceremonies in the Louvre. The official opening on 14th of April will be under the patronage of Bulgaria’s Prime Minister, Boyko Borissov. The second opening event, on April 15, will include distinguished researchers and intellectuals, who will assess the Thracian masterpieces.

On 23rd of March, a total of 1,628 artifacts from several of Bulgaria’s Thracian treasures assembled from 17 Bulgarian museums of history and archaeology, were taken by plane from Sofia to Paris for the Louvre exhibition. The Thracians’ treasures, weighing almost 4 tons, were packed in fire-proof and water-proof containers. At 4:00 a.m. on 23rd of March, 2015, they left Bulgaria’s National Museum of History in armoured trucks of the Bulgarian National Bank, and were transported to Sofia International Airport under tight security measures.