Gabrovo House of Humor and Satire turns 40

There is a town that lies very close to Bulgaria’s geographic center. Its symbol is the cat with its tail cut off. This is not because people there are callous and dislike animals. The symbol of Gabrovo is associated with the celebrated sense of humor and with the remarkable thrift of the town’s residents that have become the source of thousands of anecdotes about the Gabrovo locals and their habits and ways. One of the characters in them is the tailless cat, of course which was expected to enter the house faster, so as to keep warmth better.

Gabrovo is also the home of the world’s only House of Humor and Satire that celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2012. The proud successor of the local humor and of carnival traditions, the House today is a major center that reconciles the features of a museum and a popular gallery where the celebrated Gabrovo jokes have been showcased. However, this is place is much more, as it presents exemplary works of contemporary humorous and satirical works from across the globe. Its team has been collecting humor and satire pieces in the genres of cartoon, photography, paintings and sculpture from all parts of the globe. It organizes international events and encourages young and reputed authors to create humorous works; releases albums and catalogues with visual and verbal humor. The hosts at this house trust in the motto, “The world has survived, because it has laughed”.

„The building of the House of Humor and Satire was erected over the foundations of an old leather factory and today covers an area of 8 000 sq. m. Bulgaria’s capital of humor has also some spare space, just in case. It is the Gabrovo Planet discovered on 1 April 1976 and named after the town that has become world-famous for its folklore wit and traditional humor. Says Darina Marinchevska, PR officer of the House of Humor and Satire Museum in Gabrovo.

“The House of Humor has been nicknamed The Louvre of Laughter because it offers very amusing displays as well as a few attractions. The House has four floors with ten exhibition halls crowded with various outlandish and funny compositions and sculptures, hundreds of cartoons, humorous photographs, paintings, graphic works, posters, masks, costumes and children’s paintings. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the institution, we offer to the attention of viewers a display with the motto, The Roots of Gabrovo Humor. It makes it quite obvious why Gabrovo has earned the fame of a town of humor and satire. The exhibition has brought together the most popular anecdotes about the town and its residents illustrated by the great Bulgarian cartoon artist Boris Dimovski. Two multimedia presentations complement the display by binding tradition with the present-day high technology. Entitled How Gabrovo Emerged as Capital of Humor and The Wonders of the Gabrovo Thrift the presentations seek not only to lay out the historical chronology of events that have given Gabrovo a prominent position in the world’s humoristic heritage, but also offer a brisk sightseeing walk of the town. Our surprise to visitors is a children’s entertainment hall for kids aged from 5 to 105 years. We have named is The Planet of Laughter, Merriment and Fun. Anybody with a sense of humor and a soft spot for jokes is welcome to arrive there. The hall is complete with many special sound and light effects. For All Fools’ Day, April 1, the house’s birthday, we are planning to mount a festive exhibition dedicated to its 40th anniversary. It is entitled Forty Masters of the Comical and includes works by the greatest humorists. Another exhibition for the anniversary is with the name All Roads Lead to Gabrovo. It has turned out that over time, many Bulgarian and foreign cartoon artists have worked on the topic of Gabrovo as the capital of Humor.

The exhibition featuring donated works of art over all those 40 years, is particularly impressive. The number of works exceeds 30,000 and they are on show with free admission on 1 April, when the museum plans to launch a Day and Night of Open Doors, Humor and Fun there. We wanted to find out more about one of the most popular events at the House of Humor and Satire, the International Biennial organized by the Ministry of Culture, Gabrovo Municipality and Humor of the Nations Association.

„Last year we held the 20th edition of the biennial”, Darina Marinchevska says. “In the beginning it only had two sections – for cartoons and for satirical top table figurines. Today the biennial provides a review of art dedicated to humor from across the world in as many as six sections: cartoon, painting, prints, sculpture, photography and poster. There is another event that we hold regularly, and it is the story-telling competition Blagolaj where jokes are told from across Bulgaria. We have also released new copies of the Gabrovo Humor booklet in five languages. We have added to it new anecdotes that are shared on the internet. They are the work of teenagers meaning that they continue the tradition of exercising their sense of humor, and use it as a tool of communication. This makes us strongly hopeful that Gabrovo will prosper as a capital of humor and satire”, Darina Marinchevska, PR officer of the House of Humor and Satire Museum in Gabrovo concludes.

Translated by Daniela Konstantinova

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Gabrovo House of Humor and Satire turns 40

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