Books from the personal library of the former mayor of Sofia Eng. Ivan Ivanov were donated today to the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Vice-President Prof. Emanuel Moutafov received the valuable editions at a meeting with the relative of Eng. Ivanov, Assoc. Prof. Snezha Rakova. The books are dedicated to art and among them are: “Bulgarian ktetors. Mount Athos” (Български ктитори. Света гора) by Mikhail Kovachev with a dedication to the Sofia city governor as well as first editions of “Old Bulgarian Painting” (Старобългарската живопис) by Nikola Mavrodinov, “Old Bulgarian Art. The Art of the First Bulgarian Kingdom” (Старобългарското изкуство. Изкуството на първото българско царство), “The National Shrine” (Народната светиня) by Asen Kermekchiev, etc. Eng. Ivan Ivanov was a corresponding member of the Bulgarian Academy of [...]

  Bronze fibula The existence of a significant archaeological site related to Thracian antiquity in the land of the village of Palat, Strumiani municipality, has long been known. The Archaeological Museum in Sandanski has received very interesting finds from the area discovered during treasure-hunter interventions. Among them, five iron swords of the "Nenzingen" type - the earliest swords made of iron - are impressive. In addition to these, other pieces of armament and several fibulae are kept in the museum. The exceptional scientific importance of the site necessitated the organisation of archaeological research which has went through several stages. Firstly, an airborne laser scanning (LiDAR) was carried out, after processing the data from which it was found that a large number of mound-like [...]

(We are publishing author's text with edits and abbreviations) Recently, the Bulgarian society has been very agitated by the monetary policy issues. The occasion is the upcoming adoption of the euro in Bulgaria and Bulgaria's accession to the euro area. Why was the lev adopted as the national currency of the new Bulgarian state after its restoration by a Constituent National Assembly in 1879 and does it have a background? The Second Ordinary National Assembly passed a "Law on the right to mint coins in the Principality of Bulgaria, approved by decree of Prince Alexander I" and promulgated in the State Gazette on 4 June 1880, which defined Bulgarian coins to be gold, silver and copper with denominations of 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1 [...]

The new book of Corr. Memb. Angel Stefanov: Changing Views of Space, Time, and the Universe, brought out by Lambert Academic Publishing. This book explores how and why modern scientific knowledge is undergoing conceptual changes in its understanding of space, time, and the universe. It argues for the substantive nature of spacetime. Gravity is presented not as a force field - in contrast to electromagnetic, weak and strong interaction. In this connection, the problem of the way to achieve a "theory of everything" is reconsidered. The narrative revisits what Einstein called his "greatest mistake" - the rejection of "spooky action at a distance". The thesis is defended that modern cosmology has moved out of its paradigmatic developmental stasis. In addition, how philosophical and aesthetic preferences [...]

Corresponding member Ivan Rusev is studying data from French archives related to the history of Bulgarians in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The research is being conducted in Paris with the financial support of the French government, after winning a competition under the programme "Séjour scientifique de haut niveau - Chercheurs confirmés" ("Scientific stay at high level – experienced researchers"). The work of Corr. Memb. Rusev is mainly related to documents in the French Diplomatic Archives in Courneuve, widely known as the archives of "Quai d'Orsay" and the archives of the Ministry of Defence in Vincennes. He is among the few Bulgarian scholars who have gained access to these two archives. The documents researched by Corr. Memb. Rusev are related to French interests in [...]