received a twinning proposal signed by Atakum Mayor Serhat Turkel Kehayov said: "We have a lot to learn from each other and and we have experience to draw on Both your intentions and ours are to respect the principles of equality and democratic values." Contacts +359 2 9262 210 By accepting cookies you can enjoy a better experience while browsing pages HOT: » What kind of news would you like to see more of? Over 3,500 folk performers from Bulgaria and abroad are participating in the 22nd National Festival for two-voice singing in Nedelino The festival was officially opened last night by President Rumen Radev and will continue until September 3 The festival promotes the Nedelin double voice which is considered a unique manifestation of the song tradition in the Rhodopes region The participants are from over 100 community centers in the country and are presented in 5 age groups Foreign ensembles from 3 continents will join in with performances outside the competition program Follow Novinite.com on Twitter and Facebook Write to us at editors@novinite.com Информирайте се на Български - Novinite.bg We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria The fourth edition of the LUNAR Festival of Lights in Sofia will illuminate 10,000 square meters of art across some of the city's most iconic buildings and public spaces from May 8 to May 11 The death toll from the car attack at a Filipino heritage festival in Vancouver has increased to 11 A partial state of emergency has been declared in the Nedelino Municipality by Mayor Boyan Kehayov due to power outages affecting three villages "Book Alley" will return to Sofia from September 9 to 15 taking place along Vitosha Boulevard and in the park in front of the National Palace of Culture (NDK) The 6th edition of the Bulgarian Cinema Festival in Paris (Festival du Cinema Bulgare Paris) is set to take place from September 10 to 13 viewers can also purchase a "golden ticket" which gives them access to all events of the program Bulgaria is steadily establishing itself as a leading destination for digital nomads from across Europe and beyond the Orthodox Church marks Bright Wednesday a day dedicated to honoring the Holy Virgin Mary regarded as the most significant Christian holiday is celebrated annually in Bulgarian homes with great joy Holy Saturday marks the final day of Holy Week positioned between the sadness of Christ’s entombment and the joy of His anticipated resurrection Google Street View Cars Return to Bulgaria for Major Mapping Update Housing Prices Soar in Bulgaria’s Major Cities as Demand and Supply Strain Increase For the Bulgarian architect Tsvetanka Razsolkova everything started in 1997 when she had the urge to start designing churches Her inspiration came from the Rhodope Mountains where she was invited by architect Nikolov and the Future for Bulgaria Foundation to make the interior of the Saint Nedelya newly-built church in Nedelino The joy of the people who have not had an Orthodox Church for the past 400 years left unforgettable memories in her heart and inspired her to continue her work The first church design that she made was in 2002 when she began working with the Sofia Bishopric at the invitation of His Excellency Bishop Nikolai She is grateful to him for introducing her to the philosophy of the Orthodox faith she made a project for the expansion of the Holy Trinity Church in the monastery of The Holy Apostles Peter and Paul She is currently working on her 30th church deisgn Tsvetanka Razsolkova is a licensed architect at the Ministry of Culture She implements her projects with her sister as well as the young architect Vesela Kostova Based on a project of Architect Razsolkova the church of the Archdeacon Stephen in the Sofia neighborhood of Gotse Delchev was built “The project spreading over an area of 2,700 square meters is impressive a centre for the development of social activity I hope to soon resume construction of this site as we have been working on it with great love” Among the first projects of Architect Razsolkova from 2003 is the Orthodox church of the Equal to the Apostles Constantine and Helen in the town of Elin Pelin Its construction was delayed due to financial problems When the construction of the roof started to lag behind the man who gave up everything in order to donate for the restoration and maintenance of Bulgarian Christian churches donated BGN 18,000 “The scriptures of the Holy Fathers say that when you decide to work for the Lord “Each church in itself requires laborious and specific work I design by hand so that it can come out of the heart The one who designs the temples should not only be a believer It is necessary to understand the philosophy of religion to observe the canonical requirements in order for this so-called inspiration of God to come naturally and we must be very diligent and careful not only in the design but also in our personal attitude to faith” There are certain canons when performing the church sacraments which the architect must know in order for the temple to be convenient for holding the church liturgy which holds plenty of symbolism The study of the old specimens is also obligatory because Orthodoxy is very strict in its requirements for form and content whose works give knowledge of the dogmas of faith “Designing a temple is not a glory for the architect” says architect Razsolkova.“The more temples I design the more I understand that you must be humble The Orthodox Church should invoke a mood for prayer from afar I stand beside and look at it and it seems to me that someone else has created it - and that is the Great Architect our Lord and this applies with full force to us as we build the Lord's House” "You must have strong faith and pray - then the saint will help you and carry your prayer to God," says Father Georgi Markov of the Church of St Athanasius the Great in Gorni Lozen near Sofia He adds that he has often witnessed the miracles of St. marks 1160 years since the baptism of our Bulgarian people into the Orthodox faith and 1170 years since the creation of the Bulgarian alphabet and Slavic literature the Varna and Veliki Preslav Bishopric Metropolis. Bulgaria celebrates 149 years since the April Uprising – an event that led to the liberation of Bulgaria after almost five centuries of Ottoman rule we must not forget that every participant in the April. english@bnr.bg The mayor of Borino municipality Mustafa Karaahmed has moved from Ahmed Dogan's MRF to Delyan Peevski's political party "New Beginning" He indicated that talks were held with the party's chairman Mustafa Karaahmed is the first mayor of a municipality in Smolyan region to leave the MRF three of the municipal councilors of Dogan's party separated from the group in the Municipal Council – Smolyan and formed a new group “DPS – New Beginning“ Almost every municipality has a municipal leadership and women's associations in Smolyan we also formed a youth association but the most organized structure is in the municipality of Nedelino a meeting of the party's regional council was held in Smolyan Malinov added that they reviewed the cultural calendar for the month of May and set deadlines for structuring women's and youth associations where there are none yet More news from Bulgaria declared a partial state of emergency in the municipalities of Lyubimets and Harmanli following wildfires in Sakar mountain The fires ignited yesterday afternoon near the villages of Oryahovo there is currently no immediate threat to residential areas Around 4,000 acres of dry grass and shrubs are ablaze with ten fire department teams actively combating the fires on site provided details: "We are dealing with two fires totaling approximately 4,000 acres of dry bushes and deciduous forest The fire near Oryahovo is currently under control with ongoing efforts to extinguish it using chainsaws while our focus also remains on the fire near Izvorovo." The exact cause of the fires remains unclear though firefighters suspect human negligence may be involved Governor Ginka Raicheva explained her decision to declare a partial state of emergency citing windy conditions and the potential risk of the fires spreading to inhabited or agricultural areas she reassured the public that there is no imminent danger at this moment The European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) allows Bulgarian citizens to receive emergency medical treatment free of charge while traveling within the European Union in the industrial zone near the Meden Rudnik district in Burgas Moldova will introduce a state of emergency nationwide for a duration of 60 days due to concerns over a potential halt in Russian gas supplies starting January 1st Efforts to manage the smoldering fires at the old sludge depot near the Plovdiv village of Katunitsa are ongoing US Federal authorities are investigating incidents of fires at two ballot drop boxes in the Portland area of Oregon as well as a separate fire in the nearby Vancouver area of Washington Israel has turned to Bulgaria for assistance in battling the rapidly advancing wildfires in areas near Jerusalem The Bulgarian mobile operator A1 has confirmed that it is experiencing technical difficulties affecting both calls and text messages across its network A series of minor earthquakes were recorded in the Nessebar area with the strongest tremor measuring 3.3 on the Richter scale A woman sustained serious injuries after being attacked with pepper spray and an electroshock device and subsequently set on fire inside a hospital in the Bulgarian town of Botevgrad A 25-year-old man is in critical condition following an accident at the amusement park in Yambol A serious traffic accident in the Bulgarian town of Harmanli has left a 13-year-old child in critical condition after he was struck by a car while riding an electric scooter Torrential rains and snowstorms lashing southern Bulgaria broke a dam wall early today submerging the small village of Biser under 2.5 metres (eight feet) of water Landslides derailed the locomotive of a train from Belgrade to Istanbul near Svilengrad on the Turkish border causing no injuries but leaving at least a dozen foreigners stuck for more than six hours No casualties have been reported in the village of Biser but civil defence force chief Nikolay Nikolov told national radio that he feared some people may have drowned a special army unit and helicopters were dispatched to the village of some 800 inhabitants to evacuate people Ninety percent of the village is under water," regional mayor Mihail Liskov said on the radio Nikolov warned that two bigger dams in southern Bulgaria -- Ivaylovgrad and Studena -- were on the brink of overflowing and that people in the region should also be ready to evacuate A code red alert for stormy weather was declared in two regions in the Rhodope mountains to the south The village of Nedelino remained in a state of emergency for a second day Monday over massive landslides The region was hit by over 100 litres of rain per square metre over just 24 hours Sunday Weather services meanwhile forecast that an expected drop in temperatures to -17 degrees Celsius (1.4 Fahrenheit) this week will yield snowstorms in the coming days A cold snap end-January with temperatures as low as -31.4 degrees Celsius (-24.5 Fahrenheit) had left over 16 people dead please register for free or log in to your account The authorities of the Bahamas have begun the largest evacuation in the history of the country because of Hurricane Irma The population is evacuated from the islands in the southern part of the archipelago People will be transferred to the city of Nassau on New Providence Island In Antigua and Barbuda the authorities have urged people not to go out and stop the electricity The appeal to the population ends with the words "And let God keep us all!" Authorities on the French-Dutch island of Saint Martin and on the French island of San Barthelemy which are part of the Antilles archipelago are warning of 12-meter-high waves and the danger of a large floods of coastal areas It is expected that the hurricane will pass through the US and British Virgin Islands Haiti and Cuba before arriving in Florida in the weekend US President Donald Trump has already declared a state of emergency for Florida Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.The hurricane moves forward at a speed of 24 kilometers per hour and wind at a speed of 297 kilometers per hour Bulgaria is preparing to receive its second air ambulance helicopter Bulgaria is set to experience the tail end of Tropical Hurricane Kirk The National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology forecasts that May will bring temperatures ranging from 2°C to 33°C across Bulgaria the weather will be mostly sunny—around and after midday cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds will develop Bulgaria and Greece have signed a draft Joint Declaration regarding the use of the Arda River waters over the next five years following a decision by the Bulgarian Council of Ministers The weather across Bulgaria on May 1 will begin with sunshine in the morning followed by an increase in cloud cover during the afternoon The Constitutional Court of Bulgaria has repealed legislative changes made two years ago that permitted the installation of photovoltaic (solar) systems on arable agricultural land Bulgaria will experience mostly sunny weather accompanied by a light to moderate east-northeast wind