Celebration of the Roerich Pact in Sophia
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On April 20, 2011 in the Nicholas Roerich Hall of the National Gallery for Foreign Art, Sophia, a commemorative meeting was held. This meeting was dedicated to the Roerich Pact — the first international treaty for protection of cultural values in war and peacetime.
The event celebrated the 80th anniversary of the First Conference for the Roerich Pact held in 1931 in Bruges (Belgium). This remarkable celebration indicates the important contribution of the European continent in the promotion of the greatest idea of the 20th century — the protection of cultural values and their creators. It is widely known that Nicholas Roerich, the great Russian artist, scientist, thinker and public activist, was the initiator of the Pact.
The celebration was organised by the National Gallery for Foreign Art, the Bulgarian National Roerich Society — Bulgarian Branch of the ICR, and the Panch Vladigerov National Academy of Music.
In her greeting address to the participants of the celebration Ms Olga Arosova, Director of the National Gallery of Foreign Art, emphasised the importance of the Roerich Pact for the protection of cultural heritage all over the world.
Ms Marga Koutsarova, President of the Bulgarian National Roerich Society, told in her speech that at present the Roerich Pact is the only valid international treaty that protects not only cultural values but institutions of science and education as well as their personnel. The Pact created the effective legal base for the protection of cultural heritage and attracted attention of the world community to Culture as the most important evolutionary basis of human life.
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Mr Ognyan Punev, a representative of the National State Archive of Bulgaria, told about the Bulgarian Committee for the Roerich Pact and the Bulgarian Association named after Nicholas Roerich founded in 30-es of the 20th century.
A concert of students of the Panch Vladigerov National Academy of Music was dedicated to Nicholas Roerich, the initiator and author of the Pact. Arias from operas by N. Rimsky-Korsakov, G. Maler, R. Gluck, S. Rachmaninov were sang in the hall adorned with the paintings by Nicholas Roerich and Svetoslav Roerich.