Prof. Revalski, Full Member of BAS, guest at the event
On the eve of the Independence Day of Bulgaria, a symposium dedicated to the distinguished Bulgarian scientist, politician and public figure Professor Ivan Shishmanov (1862-1928) was held at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany.
The occasion was the publication of Professor Ivan Shishmanov’s lectures “Slavic World”, read 100 years ago in the auditoriums of the famous German university and preserved today in the Scientific Archives of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
The compilers of the impressive edition are Prof. Elisabeth Schore, long-time Dean of the Faculty of Philology and head of the Slavic Seminar at the University of Freiburg, and Prof. Rumyana Koneva from Bulgaria, a scientist of BAS and director of the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Vienna “Haus Wittgenstein”.
The publication of the lectures delivered by Ivan Shishmanov was fully financed by the grateful nowadays German followers – Slavists from the University of Freiburg in the “Cultural Transfer and Cultural Identity” series of the prestigious Munich publishing house “Brill|Fink”. The lectures have already been translated into Bulgarian by Lyubomir Iliev and are about to meet the Bulgarian reader.
The Vice Rector Prof. Michael Schwarze, the politician and former member of the Bundestag Dr. Gernot Erler, the current Director of the Slavic Seminar Prof. Achim Rabus and the German colleagues present highly appreciated the commitment and involvement of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and thanked Prof. Julian Revalski for the support in the common efforts to recover and revive the memory of Professor Ivan Shishmanov and his Freiburg years (1921-1924).
At the presentation of flowers on the plaque of Professor Ivan Shishmanov, placed in 2010 on the facade of the Slavic Seminar in Freiburg, words were delivered by Prof. Achim Rabus and Prof. Rumyana Koneva, lecturer in Bulgarian language, literature and culture in Freiburg for the period 2006-2011.
The special guest of the Symposium, the President of BAS Prof. Julian Revalski, Full Member of the Academy, highlighted in his welcoming speech to the organizers and participants a sometimes underestimated merit of our worthy ancestors – their deep conviction in the meaning of memory. “Thanks to the carefully kept notes, memories, the preserved testimonies, manuscripts and correspondence, today we can, if not fully reproduce, at least certainly touch that world that the Bulgarian intellectuals built in post-liberation Bulgaria,” the President of BAS emphasized in his speech.
Prof. Revalski expressed his gratitude for the scientific cooperation between Germany and Bulgaria, where “we have never forgotten how deep and productive the cultural ties between our peoples and artists of the spiritual sphere are”. He said that he was also looking forward to the Bulgarian edition of Professor Ivan Shishmanov’s lectures, to be published by the “Marin Drinov” publishing house of BAS.
