The construction of a monument to ancient rulers of Bulgaria at Velika Lavra monastery at the Forty Holy Martyrs Church in Veliko Turnovo inspired Sofia's Sibank Gallery's new exhibition.

Bozhidar Dimitrov, director of the National History Museum, introduced the display of gold treasures this morning at the gallery, at which he alsodiscussed the choice of wording for the show's name (“Khan Asparouh and Khan Koubrat – the First Builders of Bulgaria”).

Dimitrov said that Bulgaria has been using the word „han“. Research, however, has shown that that Bulgarian has its roots in Iranian, a language of the Indo-European family. As such, the word should be „khan“. Even in Greek, it was the word „khan“ that was used to refer to Bulgaria's rulers.

The exhibition shows select reproductions of the gold treasures of Khan Koubrat dating to 632-665, found at Malaya Pereshchepina in 1912, and of Khan Asparouh (679-700), found at Nad Sent Miklos in 1799 but not connected to Bulgaria until 1943. The display is on until October 31.