War and Artists: The Path Through Darkness

Exhibition at the National Military History Museum

When: Opening on 27 November
Where: National Military History Museum, Sofia, 92 Cherkovna Street

Images, photographs and films depicting military action are today a familiar part of the news cycle. But how did they appear in the eyes of people who lived more than a century ago? The exhibition War and Artists: The Path Through Darkness at the National Military History Museum seeks to answer this question.

The special exhibition brings together materials created by mobilised Bulgarian painters, photographers and writers between the Serbo-Bulgarian War and the Second World War. Among them are the names of remarkable artists such as Jaroslav Věšín, Vladimir 'Master' Dimitrov, Boris Denev, Ivan Vazov, Yordan Yovkov, Dimcho Debelyanov and Nikolay Liliev. Their photographs, sketches, drawings and writings focus as much on the heroism of attacks as on the quiet life behind the front line, searching for the place of the ordinary person amid the bloody storm of the major historical events of the late 19th and the first half of the 20th century.

Using an audio-visual approach, augmented reality and interactive applications, War and Artists: The Path Through Darkness speaks fluently in the language of modern audiences and creates an experience suitable for visitors of all ages. Actors Asen Blatechki, Boyko Krastanov, Gergana Pletnyova, Rusi Chanev, Stefan Mavrodiev and Yuliyan Vergov also lend their voices to the project.

The exhibition is dedicated to three important anniversaries in Bulgarian history: 140 years since the Serbo-Bulgarian War, 110 years since the country's entry into the First World War, and 80 years since the end of the Second World War.

www.militarymuseum.bg