"Spirit and Matter" - the art of goldsmithing tells the story of the Bulgarian Renaissance

Valuable Renaissance jewelry and authentic prints will be presented in the exhibition "Spirit and Matter. The Art of Goldsmithing in the Bulgarian Lands". The exhibition tells the story of the Bulgarian Renaissance through objects that combine craftsmanship, beauty, faith and symbolism. The exhibition will be opened on September 17, 2026 at 6:00 PM at the "Sea Casino" CC, "Alexander Georgiev - Kodjakafaliyata" hall. Admission will be free at the opening. The exhibition will remain in Burgas until October 30, 2026, and during the rest of the time it will be available for viewing from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM with entrance tickets. Spirit transforms matter. It gives a plastic language to different eras, through which our ancestors continue to speak to us today. It is this conversation between the material and the spiritual that is the basis of the exhibition. An artifact is not just an object. It is a carrier of memory, symbols and messages. Jewelry has its own plastic language – through shapes, ornaments and symbols, it tells about belonging, identity and social status. Stamps, in turn, carry a specific story about the role of the church, pilgrimage and the power of faith. In this sense, the exhibition draws an interesting parallel between the masterful production of the goldsmith workshops and the spiritual upsurge of the Renaissance. The gold of Bulgarian masters The exhibition presents exceptional artifacts – exquisite works of traditional Bulgarian goldsmithing art. They stand out for their precise workmanship, the richness of the ornaments, the variety of shapes and the remarkable sense of detail. Visitors will see buckles, chinstraps, tepeluts, bracelets and other Renaissance jewelry, which in the past had not only a decorative but also an important identification function. The main part of the collection consists of women's jewelry. Combined with the traditional costume, they turned women into true "queens", as described by travelers who toured the Bulgarian lands during the Renaissance. The magnificence of traditional jewelry is also visible in the fine craftsmanship of the specific artifacts. They were created using various techniques such as casting, hammering, filigree and cellular enamel. The jewelry was made in the goldsmith's workshops of a number of Renaissance towns and craft centers - Chiprovtsi, Vratsa, Vidin, Sliven, Panagyurishte, Pazardzhik, Teteven and others. An interesting highlight among the artifacts are the amulet boxes and snuff boxes, decorated with engraved floral and zoomorphic motifs. Each of these objects bears the traces of the time in which it was created, but also testifies to the high craftsmanship of the people who made it. In them, the material becomes an expression of an attitude towards beauty, faith and human identity. Stamps – images of faith Along with the jewelry, Renaissance prints (engravings) are also exhibited, which complement the idea of ​​the spiritual and everyday life of Bulgarians during the Renaissance era. They were bought during pilgrimages to holy places - Bulgarian and Athos monasteries. They are paper icons with images of the Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ, saints or monastery complexes. Sometimes they were offered on the roads by traveling monks - taxidiotes. Carried folded or rolled up, the prints were carefully placed in a wooden frame and hung in a prominent place in the best room of the home. These graphic works were signs of faith, a means of religious identification and a form of patriotic enlightenment. They did not just decorate the home, but were part of the spiritual world of its inhabitants. The combination of jewelry and prints in one exhibition allows us to see two different manifestations of the Bulgarian Renaissance culture - one related to the festive look, beauty and social belonging, and the other - to faith, spirituality and religious memory. Collection with a cause The collection was donated by Antonio Vassilev, a collector with a long-standing commitment to the preservation and promotion of Bulgarian cultural heritage. He is among the founders of the Union of Collectors in Bulgaria and its vice-chairman. The Renaissance era is a fundamental and enduring priority of his collecting interests. This is the time of the flourishing of crafts, of the skills of the hands and of the creative talent of hundreds of known and unknown masters. These people have left traces of their world in the objects of material cultural heritage – of their beliefs, ideas about beauty and a sense of belonging. Thus, the objects become a kind of record of the collective spiritual experience. Antonio Vassilev has dedicated a significant part of his work to preserving and transmitting this experience through time. Exhibitions of his collections enjoy lasting interest in various cities across the country and enable valuable artifacts to reach a wide audience. Encounter with the past "Spirit and Matter. The Art of Goldsmithing in the Bulgarian Lands" is both an aesthetic delight and an opportunity to encounter one of the most interesting periods in Bulgarian history. Through the plastic power of the jewelry and the religious imagery of the prints, the exhibition recreates the world of the Renaissance – a time of spiritual awakening, development of crafts and a desire to preserve the Bulgarian identity. The exhibition shows how objects from the past can be much more than museum evidence. They carry stories about the people who created and used them, about their holidays and customs, about their faith and about the way they perceived the world around them. The exhibition is also an opportunity for these valuable testimonies from the Bulgarian past to reach a new audience in Burgas. It is part of the aspiration for a broader socialization of cultural heritage and for creating more opportunities for the public to encounter valuable collections and artifacts. The exhibition's visit to Burgas is part of the city's initiative to develop its cultural program and is in support of its candidacy for European Capital of Culture in 2032. The exhibition also raises the important question of the role of collecting in the protection and preservation of the national cultural heritage. When valuable objects are displayed to the public, they are given the opportunity to continue their story - from the hands of their creators, through collections, to the modern viewer. "Spirit and Matter. The Art of Goldsmithing in the Bulgarian Lands" reminds us that material heritage is also spiritual memory. That behind the gold, the ornament, the image and the technique stand human stories. And that the mastery of the hands can preserve the spirit of an entire era. "Spirit and Matter. The Art of Goldsmithing in the Bulgarian Lands" Opening: September 17, 2026, 6:00 PM Location: CC "Sea Casino", "Alexander Georgiev - Kodjakafaliyata" hall, Burgas Exhibition period: until October 30, 2026. Working hours: 09:00–20:00 Entrance at the opening: free Entrance on other days: with tickets