Editorial photo #714802 Arts, Culture and Entertainment

Street Art in Bulgaria

The portrait of Fidel Castro and Dalai Lama in the village of Staro Jelezare, Plovdiv, Bulgaria On August 1, 2015 All the world leaders are gathered in the village of Staro Jelezare, Plovdiv, Bulgaria. David Cameron, Queen Elizaeth, Margaret Thatcher, Bulgarian minister of culture Vezhdi Rashidov, Vladimir Putin, Barak Obama, Steve Jobs, Dalai lama, Pope Francis, Mr Been, Winston Churchill, Voicheh Jaruzelski, Mihail Gorbachov, Lady Diana, Angela Merkel, Lech Walesa, Indira Gandhi and Fidel Castro are presented their by their poster portraits on the house walls in the village. The idea of painting the portraits belongs to a young family of a Bulgarian man and his Polish wife. The live in Poland where they have a painting school. Ventsislav and Katajina want the Bulgarian village to find a place on UNESKO's list of monuments of culture.The local people did not approve the idea at first and wanted to delete the paintings from the walls, but after seeing how interesting and original the painted walls looked they even made a waiting list of people wanting their walls to be painted too. Amongst the portraits of the world leader are also paintings of local people compared to world celebrities. The people of the village have the great desire to meet the world leaders in person some day but for now they have to make do with their portraits. Fidel Castro is especially respected figure in Staro Jelezare because in 1972 he visited the village together wih Indira Gandhi. A scene from their visit is painted on the church's façade. The official openning of Staro Jelezare wall painting festival is on 1 August. It is the first of its kind On August 1, 2015ù(Photo by Hristo Rusev/NurPhoto)