“Mount Athos” Comes to Sofia

🏛️ An invitation to citizens: “Mount Athos” Comes to Sofia

From October 17 to November 15, 2026, the National Palace of Culture will host the monumental exhibition “Mount Athos” – an encounter with the art, spirituality, and living heritage of one of the most significant places in the Orthodox world.

The exhibition presents paintings by Eftimiy (Makis) Varlamis, as well as photographs of monks from the collection of the Mount Athos Photographic Archive. Through them, visitors will be able to see Athos not only as a collection of monasteries, hermitages, and chapels, but as a living community in which faith, prayer, work, and coexistence have preserved their rhythm over the centuries.

Varlamis himself describes his artistic quest through a sense of spirituality, peace, and timelessness. In his words:

“My recreation… is determined by a sense of spirituality, tranquility, and timelessness.”

Highlights of the exhibition include the series “Doxologies” and “The Metaphysical Athos,” in which churches, hermitages, monasteries, the sea, cypresses, monks, chants, and light come together in a distinctive artistic world. Regarding “Doxologies,” Varlamis says:

“I tried to capture and reproduce the wholeness of Athos.

And in “The Metaphysical Athos,” the artist seeks the feeling in which:

“Everything becomes smooth and luminous, soaring through the expanse of heaven.”

The message of Mount Athos as a place of community and spiritual resilience is especially powerful. Archimandrite Gabriel of Dionysiou reminds us that for centuries, people from different Orthodox nations have lived together in this unique monastic community, united by a shared faith and love.

His Holiness Daniel, Patriarch of Bulgaria and Metropolitan of Sofia, describes the exhibition as more than an artistic event:

“An invitation to encounter a living spiritual reality – Mount Athos.”

In his greeting, he also draws special attention to Bulgaria’s historical connection with Athos through the Monastery of St. George the Zograf and the legacy of Saint Paisius of Hilandar.

The exhibition also conveys a deeper message to visitors – that Mount Athos belongs not only to the past. It continues to speak of faith, community, silence, responsibility, harmony with nature, and inner peace.

📅 October 17 – November 15, 2026
📍 Sofia, National Palace of Culture, 3rd floor - Central foyer entrance A3
🎉 Official opening: October 17
🎟️ Free admission

#СветаГора #Атон #НДК #София #Изкуство #Култура #Православие #Духовност #МакисВарламис