On Monday, 17 October, at 6 p.m., the photographic exhibition Miraculous Icons and Sacred Relics in the Balkans will be inaugurated at the Aula Magna of the Pontifical Gregorian University. The exhibition is realized by the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs State Institute for Culture and the Centre for Slavo-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Dujčev”, and promoted by Bulgarian Embassy to the Holy See and to the Sovereign Order of Malta and the Department of Cultural Heritage of the Church of the Pontifical Gregorian University.

The exhibition, set up on the ground floor of the Central Palace, will be open until 31 October. Through 24 photographic panels, the exhibition shows the visitor around churches and monasteries that preserve miraculous icons and holy relics. The panels describe briefly the history of each monastery, the legendary biography of each miracle-working icon and the customs associated with the church holidays and the feasts of the saints whose relics are stored there.

A narrative throws a bridge over the centuries and presents the challenge of living faith in the miraculous images and in their timeless power. The exhibition features photographs from the archives of the Centre for Slavo-Byzantine Studies “Prof. Ivan Dujčev” at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, as well as photos provided by courtesy of the Revered Fathers Igoumens of the monasteries of Rila, Bachkovo, Troyan and of Bigorski Monastery. The shown sacred objects are from monasteries in Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Montenegro, Serbia, Republic of North Macedonia and Romania.