The National artist’s gallery will host a large photo exhibition – the project “Faces for Masks – Masks for Faces” until March 29th 2009.

The authors of the project are the photographers Neli Gavrilova, Boiko Yordanov and the ethnologist Simeon Miliov.

The goal of the project is to popularize the custom “Surva” in Bulgaria and abroad – a cultural phenomenon that continues to this day as one of the oldest and most persistent traditions in Bulgarian history.

This custom started one of the most important festival of Masquerade games on the Balkans, which began in 1966 in Pernik.

The cusom “Surva” has long since found recognition in Bulgaria and Europe as a colourful and striking manifestation of the Bulgarian tradition and ethnicity.