On 30 June 2015 the City Council of Sozopol Municipality voted unanimously for the proposal of the Mayor of Sozopol Municipality – Mr. Panayot Reizi the newest honorary citizen of Sozopol to be the Chairperson of Sozopol Foundation – Mr. Kiril Aranutski for his outstanding services and intensive activity on promoting Sozopol as a world tourist destination and a place for international events and festivals. In his statement to the city councilors the Mayor Reizi emphasized that Mr. Kiril Arnautski had rendered great services to the presentation and ranking of Sozopol as worldwide destination No. 2 for 2015. “This was achieved with persistence and consistency by Kiril Arnautski and his team, and his work on implementation of numerous projects related to the archeology and history of Sozopol, as well as provision of accessible environment for the disabled to the natural and cultural heritage, can be seen everywhere in the city.” Thus, Sozopol became the first representative of the League of Historical and Accessible Cities of Eastern Europe, and Sozopol Foundation is the first Bulgarian organization that received the prestigious award “World tourist destination” of the World Travel and Tourism Council because of its active work for preservation of natural and cultural heritage.
The honorary sign of the new honorary citizen of Sozopol will be awarded at an official ceremony during the gala concert on the day of Sozopol – St. Marina that is held on 17 July 2015.
History: Sozopol Foundation is the first Bulgarian non-governmental organization consultative partner of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The Foundation was elected for a second term in the NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee. A number of criteria have to be met in order to apply for membership of the committee. First of all, the non-governmental organization should be actively working at national and international level on priorities established by UNESCO General Conference, relating to activities of the Organization in the field of education, science, preservation of natural and cultural heritage. An off-site meeting of NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee will be held this year in August in Sofia – National Palace of Culture, in which representatives of NGOs from all over the world will take part.
UNESCO will celebrate its 70th anniversary until 16 November 2015. The anniversary will be celebrated in all member states with a wide variety of events and therefore the off-site meeting in Bulgaria is even more important.
At present, Sozopol Foundation is carrying out a project about Nestinarstvo (firewalking) – as an important part of Bulgarian traditions. Nestinarstvo is included in UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Heritage. The objective of the project is to acquaint the general public, especially the youth, with the traditions of honoring the cult of fire, associated with the history of all people, and its symbolism in the Bulgarian folk beliefs and ritual practices, focusing on the cultural phenomenon nestinarstvo.
The experts of the Foundation develop projects not only in Sozopol, but throughout the country – Sofia, Vidin, Belogradchik, Melnik, Pomorie, etc.