LA COOPÉRATION CULTURELLE FRANCO-BULGARE ET LA CRÉATION D’UN INSTITUT FRANÇAIS À SOFIA (1922)
Études balkaniques (Sofia) 2023, N 4
Julieta VELITCHKOVA-BORIN
Sofia University “St Kliment Ohridski”
Bulgaria
Franco-Bulgarian Cultural Cooperation and the Establishment of the French Institute of Sofia (1922)
Abstract: Founded in 1922 after an agreement between the French and Bulgarian governments, the French Institute in Sofia, opened the same year by the Minister of Public Instruction at the time, Mr. Omarcevski, introduced a new element of political support to the French culture and its institutions in Bulgaria compared to the first French Institutes, created at the beginning of the century. On the other hand, this Institute has established itself as the almost essential intermediary between the University of Sofia and the French universities at that time, with a significant contribution to the development of the Francophonie in Bulgaria, which brings it closer to its predecessors in Florence and Athens. The Sofia Institute has continued to develop. It is far from being a simple instrument for disseminating French culture in Bulgaria. In view of its organization and its historical operation, this institution seems to be, since 1937 and still today, a good example, in the spirit and according to the conception of perspective of the contemporary French Institute.
Keywords: French Institute, Francophonie, Alliance Française/French Alliance, Cultural Policy