Culture

A country often described as lying at the crossroads linking the East and West, Bulgaria was the centre of Slavic Europe during much of the Middle Ages, exerting considerable literary and cultural influence over the Eastern Orthodox Slavic world by means of the Preslav and Ohrid Literary Schools. Bulgaria is also the birthplace of the Cyrillic alphabet, the second most widely used alphabet in the world, which was developed in these two schools in the 10th century. Bulgaria is well-known for its rich folklore, distinctive traditional music, rituals and tales, but the country's contribution to humanity also continued in the 19th and 20th century, when individuals such as John Atanasoff - born in USA with Bulgarian origin, regarded as the father of the digital computer, a number of noted opera singers (Nicolai Ghiaurov, Boris Christoff, Raina Kabaivanska, Ghena Dimitrova) and successful artists (Christo Javacheff, Pascin, Vladimir Dimitrov) popularised the culture of Bulgaria abroad.

Historic Sites

A number of ancient civilisations, most notably the Thracians, Greeks, Romans, Slavs and Bulgars, have left their mark on the culture, history and heritage of Bulgaria. The country has nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Of these, two are Thracian tombs (one in Sveshtari and one in Kazanlak) and three are monuments of medieval Bulgarian culture (the Boyana Church, the Rila Monastery and the Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo) The Pirin National Park and the Srebarna Nature Reserve represent the country's natural beauty, and the ancient city of Nesebar is a unique combination of European cultural interaction, as well as, historically, one of the most important centres of naval trade in the Black Sea. In addition, the Varna Necropolis, a 3200-3000 BC burial site, contains what are believed to be the oldest examples of worked gold in the world.

Music

Bulgarian music is part of the Balkan tradition, which stretches across Southeastern Europe, and has its own distinctive sound. Traditional Bulgarian music has had more international success than its neighbours due to the breakout international success of Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, a woman's choir that has topped world music charts across Europe and even farther abroad.

Instruments

Bulgarian music uses a wide range of instruments. Many folk instruments are variants of traditional Turkish instruments such as the 'Saz'. More modern style instruments are often used in the more modern dance music that was an offshoot of traditional village music.

Instruments include:

The gadulka, a bowed string instrument perhaps descended from the rebec, held vertically, with melody and sympathetic strings.
The gaida, a traditional goat-skin bagpipe. There are two common types of gaida. The Thracian gaida is tuned either in D or in A. The Rhodopi gaida, called the kaba gaida, is larger, has a much deeper sound and is tuned in F.
The kaval, an end-blown flute that is very close to the Turkish kaval, as well as the Arabic 'Ney.'
The tambura, a long-necked metal-strung lute used for rhythmic accompaniment as well as melodic solos.
The tarabuka or dumbek, an hourglass-shaped finger-drum. It is very similar to the Turkish and North African 'darbooka' and the Greek 'doumbeleki'.
The tupan, a large frame drum worn over the shoulder by the player and hit with a beater ('kiyak') on one side and a thin stick ('osier') on the other.

Religion

Most citizens of Bulgaria are associated - at least nominally - to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church is the independent national church of Bulgaria like the other national branches of Eastern Orthodoxy and is considered an inseparable element of Bulgarian national consciousness. The church became subordinate within the Greek Orthodox Church, twice during the periods of Byzantine (1018 - 1185) and Ottoman (1396 - 1878) domination but has been revived every time as a symbol of Bulgarian statehood without breaking away from the Orthodox dogma. In 2001, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church had 6,552,000 members in Bulgaria (82.6% of the population). However, many people raised during the 45 years of communist rule are not religious, even though they may formally be members of the church.

Despite the dominant position of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in Bulgarian cultural life, a number of Bulgarian citizens belong to other religious denominations, most notably Islam, Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. Islam came to Bulgaria at the end of the 14th century after the conquest of the country by the Ottomans. It gradually gained ground throughout the 15th and 16th centuries by the introduction of Turkish colonists and the conversion of native Bulgarians. At the time of Liberation (1878) no less than 40% of the population was Muslim, but emigration was a key factor in reducing this percentage. In 2001, there were 967,000 Muslims in Bulgaria, accounting for 12.2% of the total population.

In the 16th and the 17th century, missionaries from Rome converted Bulgarian Paulicians in the districts of Plovdiv and Svishtov to Roman Catholicism. Today, their descendants form the bulk of Bulgarian Catholics whose number stands at 44,000 in 2001. Protestantism was introduced in Bulgaria by missionaries from the United States in 1857. Missionary work continued throughout the second half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. In 2001, there were some 42,000 Protestants in Bulgaria.

Sports

Football is by far the most popular sport in the country. Many Bulgarian fans follow the top Bulgarian league, the Bulgarian A Professional Football Group, as well as the leagues of other European countries, such as those of Spain, England, Italy and Germany. The greatest success of the Bulgaria national football team is the fourth place at the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the USA.

Besides football, Bulgaria boasts achievements in other sporting areas. Maria Gigova and Maria Petrova each have a record of three world titles in rhythmic gymnastics. Some other famous gymnasts include Simona Peycheva, Neshka Robeva (also a highly successful coach) and Jordan Jovtchev. Bulgarians are also dominant in weightlifting, with around 1,000 gold medals in different competitions, and wrestling; Stefan Botev, Nickolai Peshalov, Demir Demirev and Yoto Yotov are among the most distinguished weightlifters and Serafim Barzakov, Armen Nazarian and Sergey Moreyko are world-class wrestlers. Stefka Kostadinova holds the women's high-jump record.

The Bulgaria national volleyball team is one of the strongest teams in Europe, currently ranked fifth in the FIVB ranklist. At the 2006 Volleyball World Championship, they won the bronze medal.

Chess is also very popular and one of the best chess-masters in the world, Veselin Topalov, is Bulgarian. At the end of 2005, both men's and women's world chess champions were from Bulgaria, as was the junior world champion.

At the 1998 Winter Olympics, Ekaterina Dafovska won the Olympic title from 15 km competition in biathlon and Irina Nikulchina took a bronze medal at the same Olympic Games. In winter sports, Evgenia Radanova won a bronze and two silver medals for speed skating in the 2002 and 2006 Olympic Games. Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski are another example of Bulgarian champions on the ice - this time ice dancing and figure skating. Holding the world champions' title for 2005-2006, the couple won the Grand Prix series in St. Petersburg at the beginning of December 2006.