Elena Vladova, Urban Magazine, November 17, 2024
The importance of the Danube River for the lives of Bulgarians and Romanians and the emigration of Bulgarians to Romania in the 19th century are the main themes of a major exhibition that the Bucharest Municipal Museum is hosting in Varna. It is presented by museum manager Adrian Majuru.
The exhibition is called “Beyond the Danube. An imaginary journey through the spiritual maps of the Bulgarian exile 1820-1870″ and can be visited at the Archaeological Museum in Varna until 30 March 2025.
Included are 84 exhibits from the collections of the Museum of the Municipality of Bucharest, representing the world on both sides of the Danube in the 19th century. The cultural links are traced back to 1947, when the Romanian-Bulgarian cultural agreement was signed and a major joint fine arts exhibition was organized. The exhibition’s organizers, the Bucharest Municipal Museum, described it as “a journey through the spiritual maps of thousands of ordinary people who, dreaming of their homeland, built a future for themselves and their children in a world that promised to be different: The Romanian Principalities”.
Here is what visitors to the exhibition can expect (according to the explanatory texts): “The 18th century witnessed a continuous flow of Bulgarian emigration to the Danube, a situation that continued into the 19th century. An extremely diverse population of merchants, farmers and craftsmen, often entire families and villages, found refuge and a new life in the provinces north of the river – Wallachia, Teleorman, Romanat (the former name of Oltenia – note of the translator) and Ialomița. (…) We are trying to imagine through lithographs and watercolors, chromolithographs and lithographs from this pre-modern period of exile of the Bulgarian culture and nation how the first images of the promised freedom gave life to these people.”
How long did you prepare for this exhibition?
Four months. Not only me, but also my team. The theme is present in many of our museum collections. The Bucharest Museum has 21 sections.
What is the main idea of the exhibition?
This exhibition is about the history of Bulgarian settlers during the Revival in Wallachia and Moldova. The Danube River was a sign of freedom for many Bulgarians from the Middle Ages until the beginning of the 19th century. The Danube was both a border and a gateway between the two countries. The focus is on the generation of Hristo Botev and the earlier generation of Bulgarians and how events unfolded through the eyes of the settlers. The period covered is 1820 – 1870, two generations. This is the history of these generations. All the lithographs and photographs were taken during that period. For example, my grandfather had a Bulgarian name – Ivancho. His family had crossed the Danube a generation before, passing through cities such as Giurgiu, Calafat, Svistov.
What aspects would you highlight?
In this exhibition we presented small stories about some migrants from Varna or Rusciuc (the Ottoman name of today’s Bulgarian town of Ruse), from other places. In some cities and regions there are small Bulgarian communities – Giurgiu, Craiova, Turnu Severin, Bucharest, Cioplea and Popesti Leordeni villages, Ilfov county. We have presented a map.
Do you plan to organize events during the exhibition?
History is in the making. We will try to find out what are the important topics in your life now. For this to happen, we need to know about the recent past, about our parents, our families. Here are segments from the past of life on both sides of the Danube.
The Danube is one of the main protagonists of this exhibition. What else do you want to tell the Bulgarian public about the river?
To show our life now and the new prospects of life in Bulgaria, career development, new professions, new intentions. Today this is the main thing for us, to visit another country, another culture.
Adrian Majuru, director of the Bucharest Museum (source: Urban Magazine)
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