Тракийското наследство в българския графичен дизайн: пощенска марка от втората половина на 20 век
Motives of Thracian Heritage in Products of Bulgarian Graphic Design (Postage Stamps) in the Second Half of the 20th Century

Summary/Abstract: As is well known, postage stamps now have existed in Europe for about 160 years. They are a type of applied graphic (or graphic design) artifacts – small paper elements with visible prints, which are intended for wide, public use. Postage stamps were introduced in Bulgaria in 1879 – immediately after the state Liberation. Until 1980, over 3000 stamps had been issued. Following the laws of the genre, they reflect a rich register of themes, motives and images, and were created by talented Bulgarian artists. Here, we explore the images on stamps, representing the ancient material heritage of Bulgarian lands. A number of them reproduce and promote specimens of Thracian artifacts. The focus of the study is on the systematization of these images, traced in the second half of the 20th century in Bulgaria. We looked for the answers to the following questions: Who are the artists – authors of such stamp images? When (and how) do they depict motives and images from our Thracian heritage? What are the semantic and symbolic messages of these graphic artifacts? The base of our report is traditional: art samples from ancient Thrace. The chosen perspective on them however, is new: their inclusion in contemporary graphic design, and their massive circulation in stamps. Their images have an administrative (documentary, commercial, etc.) application, but also significant social functions: informative, educational, artistic, advertising. Traditionally, postage stamps also make a significant contribution to the global knowledge and culture dissemination network.

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