On 25th March 2025, lecturers from Sofia University, scholars from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, researchers and librarians from the University Library participated in the founding meeting of the club, which was held under the motto “The Zograph Room – Home of the Slavic Manuscripts”.
Assoc. Prof. Yavrukova talked about the establishment of the Zograf Research Library in 2014 and the process of its expansion over the years through the digitalization of manuscripts from 14 monasteries, museums and libraries from Bulgaria and abroad. She pointed out the interest in the collection, expressed by researchers from Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Poland and Serbia, and summarized the value of the manuscripts. Assoc. Prof. Yavrukova mentioned the new possibility to use the digitalized manuscripts in the education of the students of the Sofia University and emphasized on the collection of scientific research, arranged in the new home of the Zograph Room.
Prof. Andrey Boyadzhiev, who is responsible for the creation of the “Friends of the Zograph Room” Club, mentioned the successful cooperation with the monks of the Zograph Monastery and presented the prospects for the continuation and expansion of the research activities. The Head of the Department of Cyril and Methodius Studies reported on the specific nature of the manuscripts, which have been provided by various institutions, and drew attention to the collections of the “small” libraries and the value of their collections. He pointed out the example of a Damaskin, kept in the Museum of the Bulgarian Revival in the town of Elena. It contains 4 pages of text in the Ottoman Turkish language, written in Cyrillic letters. It was emphasized that the combination of two languages and one graphic system in these pages could be the object of study from a paleographic and linguistic point of view. He noted that such a phenomenon is rare in a Slavic liturgical miscellany. Prof. Andrey Boyadzhiev announced the forthcoming publication of the third volume of the Zograph manuscripts catalogue and encouraged the specialists in the audience to participate in the processes of analytical description of the manuscripts and compilation of bibliographies.
Prof. Kiril Pavlikyanov from the Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology presented the manuscripts that have been researched in recent years, talked about the discoveries that, according to him, “happen once in ten lifetimes” and announced their forthcoming publication.
Prof. Anna Stoykova from the Institute of Literature at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences expressed her gratitude for the invitation and for the organization of the founding meeting of the “Friends of the Zograph Room” Club. She shared her hopes that the new home of the Zograph Room will become a proper scientific centre.
Due to the great interest, the participants united around the idea of prof. Pavlikyanov presenting the results of his recent research at the next gathering of the club.
