Bulgarian Antarctic Team Honors Etropole Town with Flag on Livingston Island
Jerusalem, 12 February, 2026 (TPS-IL) -- Livingston Island (BTA) – The head of the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute and the Bulgarian Antarctic Expeditions, Prof. Hristo Pimpirev, and journalist Maria Cherneva raised the flag of the city of Etropole in Antarctica. This happened the day before the departure of a group of participants in the 34th Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition, led by its leader, Prof. Hristo Pimpirev.
On Livingston Island there is a peak called Etropole, as it is a town with Bulgarian Renaissance roots and traditions, Maria Cherneva told BTA. In the area of the Antarctic peak Etropole there is a copper deposit, and the first explorers of Livingston – geologists – passed through these mines, developing themselves as scientists, she added.
The flag was presented to Prof. Pimpirev by the Mayor of Etropole Municipality, Eng. Vladimir Alexandrov, at the presentation of the book “Antarctica – History, Nature, the Bulgarian Polar Explorers” by Hristo Pimpirev and Iglika Trifonova in the city.
The Bulgarian research vessel “St. St. Cyril and Methodius” (NIK 421) sailed for the Ice Continent on November 7 from Varna. The vessel arrived at the military base in the Argentine city of Mar del Plata on December 13, 2025 after a month-long voyage across the Atlantic Ocean.
BTA has had a national press club on board NIK 421 since 2022. In February 2024, Bulgaria’s national news agency opened one at the Bulgarian Antarctic base “St. Kliment Ohridski” on Livingston Island . BTA Director General Kiril Valchev announced before NIK 421’s fourth voyage to Antarctica, on November 7 last year, that the national news agency would send its special correspondent in January-February 2026.
The press clubs exist thanks to the gratuitous support of the Bulgarian research ship “St. St. Cyril and Methodius” and the Bulgarian base “St. Kliment Ohridski” with the provided premises, which are added to the other 41 national press clubs (33 in Bulgaria, seven outside the country in neighboring countries and in countries with large Bulgarian communities and one mobile National Book Press Club), Valchev emphasized at the time.
The materials of BTA’s special correspondents on NIK 421 and Antarctica are freely accessible in the special thematic section “BTA’s Ship’s Log” in Bulgarian and English # Bulgaria – Antarctica and can be freely used by all media with reference to BTA. Kiril Valchev recalled that thanks to its correspondents, the agency is among the first results in the Google search engine when searching for the phrase Antarctica correspondent.
