Bulgaria · The Bulgarian Alphabet

The history of the Bulgarian alphabet is closely connected with the Christianization and the development of its own ecclesiastical and literary culture in medieval Bulgaria. In the 9th century, the brothers Kyrill and Method created a script with which Christian texts could be rendered in a Slavic language. Their mission began in the Great Moravian Empire (Großmährischen Reich). After the end of their work there, several of their pupils found refuge in Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian ruler Boris I supported the Christianization of the country and the translation of religious texts. Schools were established in the Bulgarian educational centers of Preslaw and Ohrid, where clergy were trained and writings in the Slavic language were reproduced. In this process, the Cyrillic script developed from the Glagolitic script created by Kyrill. It was presumably formed in the environment of the Preslaw Literary School and named after Kyrill, even though he himself was not its creator.

Bulgarian scholars helped to establish the new script and the Slavic liturgy permanently. From Bulgaria, texts, writing traditions and ecclesiastical books spread further into other Slavic regions, including Kievan Rus (Kiewer Rus). Medieval Bulgaria thereby became a center of Slavic written culture. The Bulgarian language today continues to be written in a Cyrillic script.

The occasion thus refers not only to an alphabet as a system of written characters, but also to a historical process: the connection between Christian mission, state support, education and linguistic independence. The choice of this subject for a commemorative coin is explained by its impact, which extends into the present day. The Cyrillic script is a visible component of Bulgarian identity and at the same time a script of the European cultural sphere. Since Bulgaria’s accession to the European Union, Cyrillic, alongside the Latin and Greek alphabets, has been one of the European writing systems used in everyday life in the Union.