Letters, Heritage and the Glagolitic Alphabet
Information on the recently completed events at Sofia University
About
Letters, Heritage, Identities
Roundtable
The Letters, Heritage, Identities Roundtable took place at the Rectorate Building of Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski on 29 January 2025. Its aim was to bring together young and experienced researchers dealing with matters related to cultural, linguistic, supranational, national, ethnic, etc. identities. Together, they will explore the ways arts and media in general (including literature, visual arts, social media, etc.) as well as historical and contemporary narratives shape perceptions of self and otherness.
The Roundtable had two strands – Strand 1: Language, Narratives, Identities, Digitalising Cultural Heritage and Strand 2: Critical Heritage. Each strand was opened by a keynote followed by nine in Strad 1 and 10 in Strand 2 scholarly presentations delivered by speakers from Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, Bulgaria, Saarland University, Germany, University of Trieste, Italy and University of Primorska, Slovenia.
The Roundtable was preceded by visits to the Prof. Ivan Duychev Centre for Slavo-Byzantine Studies and the St. Cyril and Methodius National Library on 28 January 2025. It also fed into the Matchmaking talks on 29-30 January 2025.
The Glagolitic Alphabet – The Forgotten Alphabet of Europe
Workshop
The workshop was organised by Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski 29-30 January 2025. It had two strands – Workshop Strand 1: The Glagolitic Alphabet and Digitalisation of Cultural Heritage and Workshop Strand 2: The Glagolitic Alphabet in Arts and Design.
The participants were teachers from Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, students from Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, Bulgaria, Saarland University, Germany, University of Trieste, Italy and University of Primorska, Slovenia, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania, GLAM stakeholders – representatives of the National Library St. St. Cyril and Methodius, NALIS Foundation and Prof. Ivan Duychev Centre of Slavo-Byzantine Research.
Based on the Glagolitic Alphabet as a common heritage platform, the participants were engaged in evaluating and popularising less known cultural heritage objects from their own regions in Stand 1 and explored the Glagolitic script as a metaphor of the opportunities to create cultural ties beyond national differences, to find a common “language” in the field of spirituality while? creating digital posters. They worked on Challenges (specific tasks) formulated by the GLAM stakeholders engaged in the event. The results of both workshop strands will be open to wide range of audiences and community members and accessible online.
Letters, Heritage, Identities
Matchmaking event
Between 28-30 January 2025, a Matchmaking event was conducted at Sofia University. The topic of the meetings was ‘Letters, Heritage, Identities’, expanding on two strands: ‘Language, Narratives, Identities, Digitalising Cultural Heritage’, and ‘Critical Heritage’. The matchmaking followed a roundtable discussion under the same title earlier on 28 January. The participants were both young and established researchers from the fields of cultural heritage, history, language studies, social sciences, and the arts. A total of 30 participants took part in the matchmaking activities. The highlight of the event was on 30 January when the two groups discussed the two topics – digitalization of heritage and critical heritage, and shared different national and regional conditions. Furthermore, the participants exchanged contacts and continued their discussions through email correspondence in an informal setting.
Obscure Treasures
Stakeholder Challenge
Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski hosted a Stakeholder Challenge under the title of Obscure Treasures (28-30 January 2025). The Challenge was intertwined with the two strands of The Glagolitic Alphabet – The Forgotten Alphabet of Europe Workshop held at the same time. The Stakeholder Challenge was planned and implemented with the active participation of GLAM stakeholders – National Library St. Cyril and Methodius, National Academic Library and Information System Foundation (NALIS Foundation) and Prof. Ivan Duychev Centre of Slavo-Byzantine Research. The Stakeholder Challenge for Strand 1 of the workshop was to create a kaleidoscope of less known (obscure) cultural heritage objects from the participants’ regions and for Strand 2 of the workshop – to arrange an exhibition devoted to the Glagolitsa.
The ‘Kaleidoscope’ will be accessible to the general public through the NALIS Foundation website.
The exhibition will be catalogued digitally, and it will “travel” around the different Transform4Europe Alliance universities as well as further GLAM stakeholders. A certificate for creative achievement in the field of digital posters was awarded to Yavor Enchev – a second-year student in the Graphic Design major, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Arts (Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski).
