Dear Friends,

The Most High created the Earth and started with a sack to give all the goods of nature to different countries. And when finally it was Bulgaria's turn there was nothing left in the
sack. Then he shook out over this land all that had remained and that’s why here there's a bit of everything — mountains, sees, rivers, woods, and plains.

Legends may not always give the most accurate information but science is explicit that here, 8 000 years ago, the Varna civilization created the first gold ornaments in the world. On these very lands the divine musician Orpheus was born and so was the gladiator Spartacus — the liberator of the slaves. It is only here that people dance barefoot on fire and value exclusively red wine. Here, bishop Ulfilas created the
alphabet of the Goths and Contemporary Europe, and the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius gave writing to the Slavs. According to the US Patent Office creator of the first computer is the Bulgarian John Atanasoff

Welcome to Bulgaria! Enjoy yourselves in Rousse!

The city is situated on the right bank downstream of the Danube and is 7000 years
old. The most ancient inhabitants known are the Thracians, and after them — the Celts, the Romans, the Goths, the Slavs and the Proto-Bulgarians. The contemporary city of Rousse is the 5th largest city in the country and it's an administrative, industrial, transport, trading, and cultural centre.

Many things in contemporary Bulgaria find their roots in Rousse — shipbuilding, rail, urban planning, beer; banking, insurance, choral singing, modern agriculture, and cinema. Indeed, cinema makes its first steps here in February 1897 and many of the greatest filmmakers are from Rousse. The first cinema club was established in 1924, and today Rousse is the capital of Bulgarian alternative cinema and host of the 74th world congress and festival of UNICA.

- President NFAK  - Vladimir Iliev

Picture credits. Clockwise from top-left:

A gold rhyton from the Panagyurishte treasure, the 4th–3rd century BC. by Sitomo.
Sandstone formations near Melnik, southern Bulgaria by Stoyan Filipov.
The Black Sea as seen from Medni Rid peak near Burgas by Evgord.
Ancient Roman architecture in Plovdiv, the oldest city in Europe and the 6th oldest settlement in the world, continuously inhabited since at least 3,000 BC. by Tourbillon.
All derived from Wikipedia and used under the Creative Commons scheme