The 21st World Meeting of Bulgarian Media, organized by the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA), will open in Budapest on Monday.
This year’s meeting is mottoed “Media and Leaders”. The forum, which will take place in the Hungarian cities of Budapest and Esztergom, is expected to bring together participants from 25 countries, both in person and online.
Among them are 47 journalists from 32 Bulgarian-language media outlets and broadcasts around the world, representatives of two media associations, as well as BTA correspondents and stringers abroad. Nine representatives of five media outlets from Bulgaria have also confirmed their participation.
The decision to open the World Meeting of Bulgarian Media on October 19 is linked to two anniversaries marked by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in 2026: 1,080 years since the dormition of St John of Rila and 1,150 years since his presumed birth. The date also marks the 10th anniversary of the decisions by the parliaments in Sofia and Budapest declaring October 19 Bulgarian-Hungarian Friendship Day. To mark the occasion, a bilingual commemorative plaque dedicated to St John of Rila was unveiled on October 19, 2016, at the Esztergom Basilica.
Hungary’s selection as host of the meeting is also linked to the history of the saint. His incorrupt relics were kept there for a time, as Professor Axinia Dzurova says in an article published in the August issue of LIK magazine titled “Saint John of Rila – 1,080 Years as the Heavenly Protector of the Bulgarian People”
According to Dzurova, the relics of St John of Rila were transferred for a second time in 1183, during the wars between the Hungarians and the Byzantine Empire. Hungarian King Bela III took the relics as spoils of war and had them transported to his capital, Gran, now Esztergom.
“Another miracle took place there: the local archbishop claimed that he had never heard of a saint named John of Rila, after which he lost his ability to speak. He later repented before the saint’s relics and was healed,” Dzurova notes. She adds that the third transfer of the relics took place in 1187 and was associated with their return to Sredets.
This year also marks the 110th anniversary of the establishment of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church community in the Hungarian capital, the 35th anniversary of the founding of Haemus, a bilingual magazine covering culture and public affairs, and the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Yantra and Rositsa dance ensembles in Budapest and Malko Teatro, a professional Bulgarian independent theatre in Hungary.
Monday’s programme will begin with a visit to the Hungarian Parliament, where participants will meet Marton Hajdu, Chair of the Hungarian Parliament’s Foreign Policy Committee. They will also have an opportunity to tour the parliament building and view the Holy Crown of Hungary. The delegation will be welcomed by Zoltan Tarr, Hungary’s Minister of Social Relations and Culture, and Bulgarian Education and Science Minister Prof. Georgi Valchev.
An exhibition marking Bulgarian-Hungarian Friendship Day will open at the Barankovics Istvan Office Building, which houses the offices of Hungarian MPs. Welcoming addresses will be delivered by Bulgaria’s Ambassador to Hungary, Maria Anguelieva, and Simeon Varga, the advocate for the Bulgarian national community in the Hungarian Parliament.
The World Meeting will get under way at 2 p.m. with a flower-laying ceremony at the commemorative plaque dedicated to St John of Rila at the Esztergom Basilica, followed by a prayer service led by Metropolitan Antony of Western and Central Europe and Father Csaba, the episcopal delegate for Esztergom Basilica.
The official opening ceremony will take place at 6:30 p.m. at the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Budapest.
The ceremony will be hosted by BTA Deputy Director General Evgenia Drumeva. Welcoming addresses will be delivered by Ivan Angelov, Deputy Chair of Bulgaria’s National Assembly; Prof. Georgi Valchev; Metropolitan Antony of Western and Central Europe; Simeon Varga; Dancho Musev, Chair of the Bulgarian Republican Self-Government in Hungary; Tatyana Krasteva-Arato, Director of the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Budapest; and Milena Dimitrova, Secretary for Culture, Education and Relations with Bulgarians Abroad to President Iliana Iotova, who will read a greeting on behalf of the head of State.
Afterwards, Metropolitan Antony will open the exhibition “The Heart of Bulgaria: Masterpieces from the Rila Monastery” at the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Budapest. Assoc. Prof. Georgi Lozanov, editor-in-chief of LIK magazine, will open an exhibition prepared by BTA’s BG World service.
BTA has been organising World Meetings of Bulgarian Media since 2005.
The first meeting was held in Sofia on May 23–25, 2005, under the theme “Bulgarian Media and Bulgaria’s European Responsibilities”.
The second meeting took place in Chicago on May 18–22, 2006, under the theme “National Identity and the Role of the Media in Bulgaria’s Image Worldwide”.
The third edition was held in the Vatican and Rome on May 19–23, 2007, under the theme “The Cyrillic Alphabet in Europe: The New Role of the Bulgarian Media in Europe, Viewed from Rome”.
The fourth meeting took place in Madrid on May 18–22, 2008, under the theme “The Media: Imperative Third Party in the Intercultural Dialogue”.
The fifth meeting was held in Sofia, Burgas and Varna on May 16–21, 2009, under the theme “Whither in Real, Virtual and Information Space: Tourism, High Technology and the Media – the Bulgarian Arguments against the Crisis”.
The sixth edition took place in Vienna on May 16–20, 2010, under the theme “The New East and West”.
The seventh meeting was held in Amsterdam, The Hague and Hilversum on May 25–29, 2011, under the theme “Media and Money”.
The eighth meeting took place in Bucharest on May 16–20, 2012, under the theme “The Media: Between the Global and the Regional”.
The ninth meeting was held in Sofia, Plovdiv and Veliko Tarnovo on October 13–18, 2013, under the theme “Media and National Causes”.
The tenth edition took place in Sofia, Bosilegrad and Tsaribrod on October 19–23, 2014, under the theme “Patriotism in a Global World”.
The eleventh meeting was held in Athens on November 4–8, 2015, under the theme “Media and Cultural Differences. Dialogue between Neighbours”.
The twelfth edition took place in Prague on May 17–21, 2016, under the theme “Media and Civil Causes”.
The thirteenth meeting was held in Chisinau on October 4–8, 2017, under the theme “Policies of Closeness”.
The fourteenth edition took place in Skopje on October 24–28, 2018, under the theme “Media and Memory”.
The fifteenth meeting was held in Tirana on November 22–25, 2019, under the theme “Media and National Priorities”.
The sixteenth edition took place at the Rila Monastery and in Kyustendil on October 16–19, 2021, under the theme “Media and the Truth”.
The seventeenth meeting was held in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on November 1–3, 2022, under the theme “Media and Salvation”.
The eighteenth edition took place in Kazanlak on June 1–4, 2023, under the theme “Media and Freedom”.
The nineteenth meeting was held in Odesa, Bolhrad and Izmail on June 18–21, 2024, under the theme “Media and Community”.
The twentieth edition took place in Sofia and at the Sts Cyril and Methodius Klisura Monastery on May 24–25, 2025, under the theme “Media and Knowledge”.
The 21st World Meeting of Bulgarian Media is organized with the support of DSK Bank, OTP Group, Aurubis Bulgaria, A1, SOF Connect, the operator of Vasil Levski Sofia Airport, Geotechmin Ltd., Postbank and the 13 Centuries Bulgaria National Endowment Fund.
