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ICONS / HERITAGE OF BULGARIA  
Orpheus (Orphée) - the legendary Thracian poet and musician whose music had the power to move even inanimate objects and who almost succeeded in rescuing his wife Eurydice from Hades. Image by the online edition of © Bulfinch's Mythology. Spartacus (?–71 BC), the slave and gladiator at Capua, who led the most serious slave uprising in the history of Rome (73–71 BC). With a huge army of slaves and dispossessed, he inflicted numerous defeats on the Roman armies sent against him, until defeated and killed by Crassus. Spartacus was born in Thrace, a region and ancient country of the southeast Balkan Peninsula north of the Aegean Sea. Image by Tec de Monterrey, Mexico. John Vincent Atanasoff (1903-1995 was born in New York to a Bulgarian immigrant. He studied at the University of Florida and the University of Wisconsin. With the help of Clifford Berry (1918–1963), he built in 1937-1942 at Iowa State University an electronic calculating machine - the ABC (Atanasoff-Berry Computer) - one of the first calculating devices using vacuum tubes. In 1990, the singular role Atanasoff's digital computer played in the advancement of technology was recognized by President Bush. Atanasoff was given the National Medal of Technology. Photo by Iowa State University. Elias Canetti (1905-1994) was born in Rustschuck, Bulgaria. He was educated in England, Austria, Switzerland, and Germany, and lived in England from 1938, though he continued to write in German. His interest in crowd psychology produced two important works: the novel "Die Blendung" and "Masse und Macht". Canetti was warded the Nobel Prize in Literature 1981. Photo provided by The Nobel Foundation. Christo Javacheff was born 1935 in Gabrovo, Bulgaria. He studied art in Sophia and Vienna before moving to Paris and later permanently to New York. Christo's huge avant-garde outdoor sculptures, which include wrapping objects (trees, cars, buildings) in canvas or plastic sheeting, have continued to arouse controversy, especially among environmentalists. Photo by Charles Wilp, Ata Tak Art.
Orpheus*
.		 Spartacus
??-71 BC		 John V. Atanasoff**
1903-1995		 Elias Canetti
1905-1994		 Christo
1935-
Europalia 2002 Bulgaria
3 November 2002 - 5 January 2003
Image provided by Europalia 2002 Bulgaria. A cultural and artistic festival in the heart of Europe.
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Selected by Icons of Europe, the above Icons and institutions are eclectic examples of the cultural heritage and diversity of this country.  The selection does not necessarily represent a balanced view of the rich culture of the country.  We welcome suggestions to enhance the selection.

The wrapping of Berlin's Reichstag in June 1995 by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Photo by Andreas Körner.


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NOTES

* The Orpheus legend played in the second half of the 19th century a major role for the enshrinement of CHOPIN's legacy.  Chopin’s music and his romance with Jenny Lind became sources of inspiration for composers, poets, painters and sculptors, e.g. Liszt, Stravinsky, Sullivan, Wagner and Wilde as well as exiled Polish artists.  Ref. Icons of Europe's research in 2003-2006.

  

A replica of ABC seen over the front-left corner. Photo by Iowa State University.** About the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC):
In 1940, "Atanasoff was about 50 years ahead of his time.  IBM told him there was no future in electronic computing" (John Gustafson, a computational scientist at Ames Laboratory, at a memorial service in 1995).  >> More

 
 

 

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