A painting by a Bulgarian child from London has found a home on St. Anastasia Island

Alexander Georgiev was only 14 years old when he participated in the first International Youth Biennale "Bulgarian Traces Around the World – with Palette, Camera and Word" in Rome. The event, held in 2021/2022, was a great success, and the painting "The Tetraevangelia of Tsar Ivan Alexander - the royal family" won first place. The young man who studies at the Bulgarian school "Ivan Stanchov" in London, approached the creation of his work quite professionally.

First, he made a smaller version, which we liked very much", says the school's long-time principal Snezhina Mecheva. "He said he would make a larger and better version for the competition, and the smaller one remained in our classroom.Two years ago, we visited the British Library and had the rare opportunity to see the original of the Tetraevangelia of Ivan Alexander.

Alexander's artwork was exhibited in the Italian capital in November 2021. Six months later it was displayed at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in Sofia. The work was supposed to end up in the Vatican, but fate had other plans.

An unknown force made Veneta Nenkova, founder of the Bulgarian school in Rome and organizer of the international biennale, to take the painting with her when she decided to visit friends on the picturesque island of St. Anastasia near Burgas. It was there that Alexander's artwork found its home.

‘’The arrival of the painting on the island coincided with the 17th anniversary of the Association of Bulgarian Schools Abroad. There are no accidental meetings and random events, I am already convinced of that!", Veneta Nenkova adds.