The book "The Starry Sky – Mythology and Science" will be presented in Haskovo on 13 November at 5:30pm in room 202 of the Youth Centre.

Haskovo's astronomical observatory is one of the main partners behind the book, along with the National Astronomical Observatory and the Giordano Bruno Planetarium in Dimitrovgrad.

The Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences is publishing the book with the Eureka Foundation. Ethnologists from the National Ethnographic Museum and astronomers from the Institute of Astronomy with National Astronomical Observatory at the academy worked on it.

The book is an album-catalogue for the interactive multimedia exhibition of the same name at the National Ethnographic Museum in Sofia. It runs to 240 richly illustrated pages and is in Bulgarian and English.

Stories, knowledge, beliefs, curious discoveries and practices show how people in the Bulgarian lands have looked at and understood the sky and the objects in it, from ancient times to today. The topics come from mythology, ethnology, history, astronomy and space exploration in Bulgaria.

The illustrations show items from the traditional life and culture of Bulgarians, specialised scientific equipment, optical instruments and new technical devices. Some exhibits have great cultural, historical and scientific value. Some objects are recognised as movable cultural property and are the only ones of their kind in the world.

The book also describes architectural, religious and natural landmarks in Bulgaria linked to Bulgarians' knowledge of and curiosity about the starry sky. It ends with well-known and lesser-known objects in near and distant space.