The largest collection of epigraphic monuments was presented at the International Forum on Cyrillic alphabet

The largest collection of epigraphic monuments, which is located in the Archaeological Museum in the town of Veliki Preslav (Northeastern Bulgaria), was presented to Bulgarian studies experts from several countries in Europe. They are in Bulgaria for the International Forum on the Cyrillic alphabet.

The epigraphic monuments bear reliable facts about the Bulgarian state, the Slavic language, the development and spread of the Cyrillic alphabet. Some of the texts are in Glagolitic letters, the rest - in Cyrillic. Studying them will help to illuminate facts of Bulgarian history in the period of the 9th - 10th centuries, during the heyday of the Preslav school of literature.

Alexander Gorchev, PhD, Director of the Archaeological Museum in Veliki Preslav: "We are showing how the Bulgarian language, the alphabet, reached so many people that to this day more than 300,000 million people converse and write with the Cyrillic letters that were created here in our lands."

Prof. Tatyana Subotin-Golubovich, Serbia: "I have travelled a lot in Bulgaria and I have visited several museums and monasteries, but this is the first time I have seen such a treasure as the one in Veliki Preslav."

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An international forum on the Cyrillic alphabet initiated by Vice President Iliana Iotova opened in Sofia on Monday.

The forum brings together outstanding Bulgarian studies experts from 11 countries, including Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Poland and Serbia, as well as Bulgarian medievalists. The participants highlighted the Bulgarian contribution to saving the works of Cyril and Methodius and their disciples, to the creation and dissemination of the Cyrillic alphabet across the Slavic world.