HOUSE OF HUMOUR AND SATIRE IN GABROVO - A UNIQUE MUSEUM OF LAUGHTER

The Museum House of Humour and Satire is located in the town of Gabrovo – the geographical centre of Bulgaria. Gabrovo is inhabited by inventive, enterprising and thrifty citizens who are the butt of numerous jokes and anecdotes told the world over. The town is known as the humour capital of Bulgaria. The Museum House of Humour and Satire was founded 42 ago, on 1st of April, 1972. The Museum claims to be a house (meaning ‘home’) – a free territory where humourists, satirists (out of favour with every authority for the simple reason of opposing it) and their works live a comfortable life. The House of Humour and Satire collects, houses, exhibits and popularises humorous works in the fields of cartoon, painting, graphic art, sculpture, poster art, photography and literature. It also studies the ethnography and the carnivals of the world’s peoples. The International Biennial Of Humour And Satire In The Arts (IBHSA) has been held without interruptions since 1973, from May until September every odd-numbered year at the Museum House of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo. The Biennial’s motto The World Lasts Because It Laughs – created as a jingle by the outstanding Bulgarian satirist Radoy Ralin – has inspired 9 160 artists from 173 countries in the world to submit 61 494 works in the 6 categories to the 20 hitherto editions of the IBHSA

We present to the cartoon lovers in Poland the Bulgarian cartoon works of classic and contemporary artists of 20th and 21st century. The history of Bulgarian cartoon art can be traced back to 1901. The artist Alexandar Bozhinov is considered to be the founding father of cartooning in Bulgaria. In 1930 Sofia, the country’s capital, hosted the opening of the First General Cartoon Exhibition which showcased works by A. Dobrinov, Rayko Aleksiev and Iliya Beshkov. “Sturshel” (‘Hornet’) humour magazine was launched in 1940, and it is still published today. It has printed cartoons by Nikola Mirchev, Marko Behar, Aleksandar Poplilov, Todor Dinov, Boris Dimovski, Donyo Donev and many others. The Humour of the Peoples art collection at the House of Humour and Satire treasures invaluable original works by “the fathers” of Bulgarian cartoon. We present works by 52 Bulgarian artists, both classic and contemporary, among them these by Stoyan Venev, Rumen Dragostinov, Anatoliy Stankulov, Rumen Simeonov, Ivailo Tsvetkov, Alla and Chavdar Georgiev, Chavdar Nikolov, Iliyan Savkov and Ivan Kutuzov.

Tatyana Tsankova

Director of the Museum HOUSE OF HUMOUR AND SATIRE in Gabrovo, Bulgaria