The exhibition "The First Rulers of Europe" was officially opened in Chicago

With more than 700 objects of culture from 26 different museum institutions in 11 countries, "The First Rulers of Europe" tells in detail the history of humanity from equality to hierarchy.

With an official event on March 31, 2023 at the Field Museum in Chicago, USA, the first ever international exhibition opened "The First Rulers of Europe". In the presence of the president of the "Field" museum, Mr. Julian Sigers, the president of the "America for Bulgaria" foundation, Mr. Frank Bauer, representatives of the diplomatic corps, as well as directors and heads of the 26 museum institutions participating in the exhibition was presented the overall concept of the exhibition, which united more than 700 cultural values ​​from 11 countries of the Old Continent.

"The world was not always as unequal as it is today," shared Bill Parkinson, curator of anthropology at the Field Museum and professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Bill Parkinson, along with his longtime colleague Attila Gyucha, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Georgia, have spent the past eight years researching and collecting cultural artifacts from Southeast Europe.

A central place in the exhibition "The First Rulers of Europe" occupy three Bulgarian museums: National History Museum, Regional History Museum - Ruse and Regional History Museum - Varna. The Bulgarian participation is realized with the financial support of the "America for Bulgaria" Foundation and includes 32 exhibits that have preserved the spirit of the peoples inhabiting our lands in the early eras of the development of civilizations.

The exhibition tells the story of how the egalitarian societies of antiquity were transformed into a world governed by hierarchies and leaders who gained power and influence by amassing wealth and controlling trade, technology, ritual and warfare.
One of the main aims of the exhibition "is to provoke a conversation about the common past in this part of the world - the Balkans, where people often prefer to focus on divisions", Bill Parkinson also shared.

Countries including Bulgaria that present their cultural heritage are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia. American and global audiences will have the unique opportunity to see artifacts that are standing side by side for the first time, have never left the confines of their territories of origin, and others have never been exhibited in a museum setting.