CHARLOTTE Roth, wife of Sweden’s Ambassador to Bulgaria, Bertil Roth, has taken on an active role in the promotion of cultural exchange between Bulgaria and her home country. Her projects are many, spanning the spheres of design, film, literature, archaeology, music and cuisine, to name but a few.
Mrs. Roth was instrumental in bringing renowned Swedish film-maker Ingmar Bergman to Bulgaria for last year’s highly successful Boyana Film festival. On a recent visit to Stockholm, she attended the Ingmar Bergman symposium where she spoke with another prominent figure in Sweden’s film industry about the possibility of a similar venture next year. Mrs. Roth is also a fan of Bulgarian films and believes that more Bulgarian films should be shown in Sweden. She regularly attended the Kino Centre’s screenings of old Bulgarian films on her arrival in the country.
Also to look forward in 2006 is the Astrid Lindgren exhibition, celebrating the works of the beloved Swedish children’s author. The exhibition will cater to children, taking place in a tent where activities such as storytelling and theatre will add an interactive element to the event. The films of Lindgren’s stories will also be screened. Mrs. Roth hopes to bring the exhibition to Sofia from Stockholm in May or June of next year.
In conjunction with the Astrid Lindgren exhibition, there are plans for a Swedish children’s authors seminar at Sofia university as well as a seminar on Children’s Human Rights to raise awareness of issues such as people trafficking. Thus the initiative has a twofold aim – to provide an enjoyable cross-cultural learning experience for children, while raising more serious issues.
Plans are also afoot for collaboration between Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland in a design exhibition, which Mrs. Roth hopes will visit Bulgaria in autumn 2006. Scandinavia has a justly-earned excellent reputation for its modern, functional design. “The Home Today and Tomorrow” magazine recently featured the interior of the Swedish Ambassador’s residence in Sofia as an example of classic Scandinavian class, showing examples of Swedish furniture designer Svenskt Tenn’s work.
Another upcoming collaboration to look out for in the field of arts is the joint project between Swedish and Finnish musicians and the Bulgarian Hors quartet.
However, it is not only in the arts that cultural exchange between Sweden and Bulgaria is taking place. Earlier this year a joint historical and archeological project took place in Bulgaria between Sweden’s Upsala University , the Balkan Media Association and the Wulfila House Foundation. Swedish historians Dr. Ulf Erik Hagberg and Dr. Lars Munkhammer made their first visit to Bulgaria to start a new co-operation in studying the history of Gothic culture, and in particular Wulfila’s Bible. Bishop Wulfila lived in Bulgaria in around the 3rd century. He translated the Bible from Greek into the Gothic language. This bible made its way to Sweden, and is now in the university library, to which it has been donated. “So, the links between Bulgarian and Sweden go back along way, right back to 400 years after the birth of Christ,” says Mrs. Roth. “Bulgaria is so rich in culture. Everybody has passed through here at some point.” Mrs. Roth believes that these rich historical cultural connections should be explored further and studies should be expanded; the interest is there, but unfortunately the perennial problem of finance persists.
The conference on Gothic history and culture was held in Sofia, Chirpan and St. Athanasius Monastery (founded in 334 CE) near Zlatna Livada village. Whilst attending the conference, the Roths visited the House Museum which Bulgarian artist Nikola Manev donated to Chirpan. Here they “fell in love” with his work and bought one of his paintings. The Roths were happy to meet the artist himself for the first time two weeks ago.
The painting now hangs in the Swedish residence in Sofia, where, on Tuesday June 7,the Roths hosted Sweden’s national day celebrations. Mrs. Roth arranged for Stockholm’s Romeo and Juliet choir to perform at the celebrations. The choir flew over especially from Sweden, where they had performed on the previous evening for the King and Queen. Mrs. Roth appreciated the help from the embassy in arranging the celebrations, and also from her cook, with whom she is planning to compile a recipe book.
“I love this country very much”, says Mrs. Roth and this is evident in the hard work that she continues to put into cultivating ties between it and her home country of Sweden.