May, 24 is the national day of the Cyrillic alphabet in Bulgaria. On that morning Sofia (the capital) woke up with 30 ceramic tiles, each one carrying a character of the Cyrillic alphabet. These were displayed on 30 central locations around the city. The project depicts the topic of national identity and the role of the alphabet as an important part of it.
The manifesto published on the project’s website 30bukvi.com (30 letters – translated from Bulgarian) states:
''Today the big cultures absorb the small ones. The more popular languages overpower the others. The identities of many small nations start to fade away in the shadow of the colossals. The Cyrillic alphabet is a significant part of the identity of our small (Bulgarian) nation, culture and language. it is one of those few things that we could call our own. Let’s celebrate it!
The project ‘30bukvi’ (30letters) is a visual interpretation of the Cyrillic alphabet. 29 ceramic tiles exhibited on the streets of Sofia. 29 pieces of love. But there is one more… Do you want it?''
As an interactive part of the project, one character was not put on a wall but rather hidden in public space… On the web site there is a riddle giving info on where the last tile is hidden so one could go look for it, find it and keep a piece of the strory. The tile was found by a girl called Teodora.
