On St. Patrick's Day, March 17 the Embassy of the Republic of Ireland in Bulgaria will light in green 20 landmark buildings across Bulgaria. There will be also two literary exhibitions dedicated to Irish famous Nobel ‎prize winners writers – James Joyce and Samuel Beckett. Beckett will be ‎presented in Tryavna while Joyce will be presented at Veliko Tarnovo ‎University where there is a faculty of Irish literature.‎

St. Patrick's Day has been officially celebrated in Bulgaria since 2016. The Irish people who reside permanently in Bulgaria number several hundred, as several thousand own houses here.

HE Martina Feeney, Ireland's Ambassador in Sofia, who is also the Irish ‎Ambassador to Armenia and Georgia in a non-resident capacity, talks to BNR's ‎Assia Chaneva about the upcoming holiday, bilateral relations, her special place in Bulgaria, and cultural and historical similarities between the two nations.

This year the holiday is more special. 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the Republic of Ireland's membership of the European Union, and April marks 74 years since the country was declared a republic, says Ambassador Feeney:

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• Interview with HE Martina Feeney - part 1

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• Interview with HE Martina Feeney - part 2

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"I am delighted that this year 20 buildings across Bulgaria will ‎light up in green for Saint Patrick's Day.‎ Let me just mention a few - here in Sofia, obviously, the ‎embassy building we will light up in green, but also the ‎National Library, Sofia City Library, The Opera and Ballet ‎house, and the Military club will be lit up in green.‎

‎Veliko Tarnovo this year for the first time will light up ‎Tzarevets fortress in green, in Vidin we'll have Baba Vida ‎fortress in green, Tryavna which has a twinning relationship ‎with an Irish town will light up its city clock tower and in ‎Plovdiv, the amphitheatre is going to be lit up in green for the ‎first time.‎

So we hopefully will have photographs and images from all of ‎those buildings and we'll put them up on our website,‎" shares Ambassador Feeney.

Veliko Tarnovo University with Tsarevets Fortress in the background