Bulgaria Marks National Enlighteners' Day

The Bulgarian Academy of Science's headquarters in downtown Sofia. File photo, BGNES

Bulgaria is honouring on Tuesday all the people who helped develop and preserve its culture and pass it on to other generations, along with those who fought for its liberty under Ottoman rule.

Bulgaria has celebrated on November 1 since 1909, but banned festivities under Communism to renew them in 1992, with the regime considering them a show of "great Bulgarian chauvinism".

A flag-raising ceremony in front of the Presidency in Sofia is scheduled for 09:00 local time, attended by Rosen Plevneliev, Bulgaria's head of state.

A number of exhibitions in museums and cultural centers with be held across the country. In Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second-largest city, visitors to culture venues will be able to meet poets and writers.

Festivities, however, will go hand in hand with demonstrations as scholars with the two biggest science academies of Bulgaria will take to the streets of Sofia to demand more money, claiming research has been left underfunded for decades.

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