Reunion after a millennium

As the Forum of Publishers in Lviv traditionally ushers in another book autumn, Den presents a new publication. This time the newspaper has prepared a surprise – the book My Sister Sofia.

What role did Ukrainian intellectuals play in the making of a Bulgarian state? Why did Sviatoslav the Brave want to move the capital of his state to the Danube? How did the Slavic Bulgaria manage to join NATO and the EU? If you want to know this, come over!

Like Ukraine, Bulgaria managed to restore its statehood and culture in what seemed to be hopeless and catastrophic situations. Trying to learn Bulgaria’s experience and rich history, full of brilliant victories and tragic, albeit eventually overcome, disasters, we come to know ourselves.

The new publication will be presented on September 16 at 11 a.m. at the Potocki Palace’s Mirror Room (15, Kopernyka St.) in the presence of Den’s editor-in-chief Larysa IVSHYNA; contributors Serhii KOT, Petro KRALIUK, Maria CHADIUK, Olena CHMYR, and Andrii LIUBKA; compilers Ihor SIUNDIUKOV and Roman HRYVINSKY. Yuliana LAVRYSH is the moderator.

“This book is an attempt to clarify the most important question of Bulgaria’s history and to better scrutinize, through this, the ‘knots’ of unstudied Ukrainian history. It is no accident that our series is called ‘Ukraine Incognita.’ Bulgaria gives some answers to questions about Ukraine. While there was an intention to distort Bulgarian history, some wanted to misappropriate our history. We discover that we sometimes do not know the way we were before. Sofia is about us. Sofia is about them. Sofia is about a new height to be attained. Exploring this stretch of civilization and reciprocal penetrations that occurred thousands of years ago, we come to know that they still remain living and topical,” says Larysa Ivshyna, editor-in-chief of Den, in the preface to the book.

The art accompaniment to the book will also be presented as part of the event – limited collection of bracelets made by artist Anna Havryliuk and ZARINA Jewelers. A refined little leather chain and a silver pendant with the letter Az (the first letter in the Early Cyrillic alphabet, meaning “I”) are not only an elegant accessory but also, above all, a symbol by which you can “spot your own team.” This is what Ms. Ivshyna wrote on her Facebook page.

What is in common between Kyiv and Sofia? The first thing that comes to mind is faith and alphabet. The letter Az in the Bulgarian Glagolitic created by Cyril and Methodius assumes the meaning of a symbol, for it is based on a cross. This prompts you to search further on, and you can finally see that, like Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, St. Sophia’s Cathedral in the capital of Bulgaria is a cruciform basilica, i.e., a “cousin” of St. Sophia’s in Kyiv. Therefore, Az is not an accidental but quite a logical symbol at the beginning of the restoration of our relativity with Bulgaria.

We are waiting for you at stand No. 306!