Assoc. Prof. Emmanuel Moutafov: Energy efficiency is pointless without national efficiency as handed down by Lyapchev

Assoc. Prof. Emmanuel Moutafov, Director of the Institute of Art Studies defined energy efficiency as absolutely pointless without national efficiency such as handed down by Andrey Lyapchev (1866-1933), in an interview for BGNES News Agency on the occasion of Andrey Lyapchev’s 150th anniversary.

Andrey Lyapchev’s 150th anniversary was marked at the Auditorium of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS).
Assoc. Prof. Emmanuel Moutafov, Director of the Institute of Art Studies, BAS housed in Andrey Lyapchev’s house at 21 Krakra St, Sofia, retold the story of the Institute’s building, erected ca. 1906/08. In 1923, Andrey Lyapchev, Bulgaria’s PM (1926–1931) acquired it for his family from a dealer Lazarov. Prior to his death, Lyapchev bequeathed all his property whatsoever to the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the Bulgarian Economic Society.

In 1943, the Office of the Bulgarian Dictionary was housed there and since 1948, the Institute of Fine Arts was accommodated in the building. That is why the history of the Institute is closely associated with the figure of Andrey Lyapchev. On 29 November 2006, the Institute of Art Studies celebrated the prominent politician’s 140th anniversary holding a special session attended by historians, art historians, film scholars and theatre historians to present various viewpoints of the figure and the legacy of the distinguished politician. Along with an exhibition of documents from his personal archives, the facade of the building was marked with a commemorative plaque.

‘Andrey Lyapchev is not just a great Bulgarian, but also my greatest idol’, Assoc. Prof. Emmanuel Moutafov said. He went further to say that in 2006, BAS received funds to repair the front of the house and replace the rotted wooden window frames. ‘The sum might well prove to be the last governmental grant intended for repair works received by the Institute. Even with this exterior renovation, the conditions of work inside the building remained unchanged. Some of the rooms are unusable due to damp, leaks and falling into decay’, he elaborated.

Assoc. Prof. Emmanuel Moutafov went further to say that he is Andrey Lyapchev’s votary. ‘His work, patriotism, his care of and position on state and science have always inspired me. That was the reason why I made a point of restoring the house of this great Bulgarian, when I was placed at the helm of the Institute. Bulgarian cabinets have never provided expertise and financial support to the restoration of Andrey Lyapchev’s house’.

’I have to wait for someone of the employees to fall ill or take unpaid leave to repair something, while the government would call us ‘beggars’ for they would allegedly invest in energy efficiency alone. Energy efficiency is absolutely pointless without national efficiency such as handed down by Andrey Lyapchev. The present situation with his grave in Sofia is symptomatic of what we make of our national efficiency, for there is not even one true patriot volunteering to reinstall his bust there’, Assoc. Prof. Emmanuel Moutafov said.

Academician Georgi Markov, Director of the Institute of History, BAS said that not a single contemporary Bulgarian politician could be a second or third Lyapchev. ‘Not a single contemporary Bulgarian politician wants to be the second Lyapchev or Malinov (Bulgaria’s PM 1908–1910; 1910–1911; 1918; 1931). Lyapchev is this country’s most prominent twentieth-century statesman. He was assigned the most difficult tasks, for King Boris III said that Lyapchev was the one Bulgarian statesman of Victorian type’.
Academician Georgi Markov believes that Andrey Lyapchev has set an example of endowment for contemporary politicians. ‘Andrey Lyapchev has to be remembered for his sense of taking a calculated risk, and he worked a miracle pacifying Bulgaria. He has rendered great services to this country and has to be remembered and recalled to contemporary politicians. Not a single one of them could be the second or third Lyapchev, of course. Not even a commemorative stamp was released to mark his 150th anniversary, or isn’t he worth a stamp, when all sorts of stamps are being released?’
’Andrey Lyapchev is an outstanding Bulgarian, coming from the village of Resen, and hopefully not Skopje, but Bulgaria ought to erect a monument to him’, Academician Georgi Markov elaborated. (BGNES)
http://news.dir.bg/news.php?id=24738251