To incapacitate the virus with art during a time of social isolation - hundreds of Bulgarian artists in Bulgaria and around the world are currently working with such a task. The Covid-19 pandemic has also sparked a creative response from one of the most respected state institutions in Bulgaria - the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On March 22, the State Institute of Culture at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched its online initiative #STAYATHOME WITH ART. This is a way to bring to the broad audience on social networks some of the most valuable artistic works interpreting the theme of home. Many of them are the work of famous Bulgarian masters from the middle of the last century.

The initiative is also educational as the digital image of the paintings is accompanied by a brief description of their creation, the feelings and impressions that inspired their authors at that particular moment. However, these are also works that have travelled between the Bulgarian missions abroad, while others have been created during the travels of Bulgarian artists from the last century to Paris, Budapest, Rome, London, Vienna, and Bratislava.

It is a curious fact that the Artistic Fund of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs currently possesses over 3 thousand valuable paintings, graphics, sculptures and plastics. An impressive number of 2,140 works of art are currently stored abroad in 80 Bulgarian embassies. Their total value is estimated at over BGN 4,8 million.

"In a time when we are faced with the challenge of postponing significant events from our calendar related to exhibitions, lectures, book presentations, we have mobilized our efforts as a cultural institution so that our work does not die out," explains the director of the State Cultural Institute, Snezhana Yoveva-Dimitrova:

"That's why we started the Virtual Meetings with Art initiative. We are trying to show through the communication channels the richness of our art fund. We started with the brilliant painting entitled “Koprivshtitsa” by Bulgarian artist Dechko Uzunov. We last introduced Georgi Petrov’s painting on the topic entitled "A Family in front of the TV". The fund of the Foreign Ministry boasts works of Bulgarian classics from the rank of Georgi Bozhilov, Petko Abadzhiev, Nikola Tanev, Georgi Petrov, Bencho Obreshkov and others. We also present some contemporary artists who have contributed to the MFA's collection. Such is the picture of Ivaylo Hristov, located in the Bulgarian Embassy in Budapest, with the interesting title "In Grandma's Room".

Over the years, the National Art Fund at the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been collected mainly through the active participation of the state, ас the Ministry has been supporting and encouraging Bulgarian artists to display their works around the world. "We think it is important to maintain and promote this fund because these works carry the history of our diplomatic missions from different places around the world," says Snezhana Yoveva-Dimitrova.

"The role of the Fund is very important nowadays because every diplomatic mission and administration carries the spirit and message of these works, over the years they have shaped the image of the institution. This online initiative of the Fund also includes guest works, some owned by the National Gallery of Art, from the Sofia Art Gallery, there are also archeological artifacts owned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Sculpture Park. Since launching the Stay at Home with Art initiative, many galleries, municipal and private, as well as many contemporary artists living abroad and in this country, have joined the idea. So far, high-ranking artists working abroad have sent their works. Among them are Yanko Tihov and Paola Minkova from London, Leda Vaneva from Helsinki, Boryana Perchinska from Berlin, Radostina Doganova from Bratislava, Nikolai Delianev and Elizabeth Tzvetkova from Italy, as well as Huben Cherkelov from New York.”

English Rossitsa Petcova