A Polish flash mob at the opening of an exhibition in Bulgaria

In Sofia the pictures were presented in the city center, at the Lover’s Bridge. The open city space was perfect for the unusual form of the exhibition. The group from Poland organized a flash mob. At an hour specified on posters promoting the exhibition people gathered on the bridge. Lots of people expected a standard exhibition opening. Among the people gathered at the bridge were choir singers. Suddenly, an accordionist Michał Borkułak started playing a Polish song. One by one, people started joining in. All of the singers gathered in the middle of the bridge and they were singing Polish, Ukrainian and Belarus folk songs. Passers-by received CDs promoting Orthodoxy in Poland and material about the exhibition. The official opening of the exhibition was done by Plamen Sivov and Aleksander Wasyluk - the originator and the coordinator of the project.

The exhibition opening had been preceded with a performance of a Polish choir directed by Fr Łukasz Godun. The concerto took place in the Church of Sofia. Concertos of church chants are quite a new initiative in Sofia. The event was attended by a Papal Nuncio in Bulgaria as well as charge d'affaires from the Polish embassy and the Ukrainian ambassador. A special guest was Fr Kirył Popov who is a well-known composer of church music. He donated to the Polish choir the newest collection of his compositions which have their sources in Old Bulgarian chants.

The exhibition comprising a few dozen of colourful pictures and descriptions is available to be seen in Sofia in the forthcoming two weeks. The Orthphoto exhibition and activities in the city aim at building a positive image of Polish Orthodoxy. Poland is usually perceived as a Roman Catholic country, which does not reflect the multi-cultural nature of Poland.