The House of Humour and Satire ( bg, Дом на Хумора и Сатирата; ''Dom na Humora i Satirata'') in

Gabrovo Gabrovo ( bg, Габрово ) is a town in central northern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Gabrovo Province. It is situated at the foot of the central Balkan Mountains, in the valley of the Yantra River, and is known as an internationa ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

, is an exposition of traditional local

humour Humour (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humorism, humoral medicine of the ancient Gre ...

art, including cartoons, photographs, paintings, sculptures, and verbal humour. The House combines features of a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

and an

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

. The city of

is also known as an international capital of humour and satire. Its

motto A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. Mot ...

is ''"The world lasts because it laughs"''.

Collection and activities

The House of Humour and Satire is a cultural center in Gabrovo. Its main objectives are the management of its collection and hosting of permanent and temporary exhibitions of humorous and satirical works of art from Bulgaria and the world, publishing activity and organisation of contests and festivals of humour. The following events are held in the House of Humour and Satire: * International

biennial Biennial means (an event) lasting for two years or occurring every two years. The related term biennium is used in reference to a period of two years. In particular, it can refer to: * Biennial plant, a plant which blooms in its second year and th ...

of humour and satire in the arts (IBHSA) * The ''Blagolazh'' national meeting of story- and joke-tellers * Carnival of humour and satire * World fine arts exhibitions and competitions The House's art collection ''Humour of the peoples'' includes over 51 620 works of art by over 9000 authors from 173 countries around the world: among them approximately 22 000 caricatures, over 3000 satirical graphics, over 1000 picture works, around 1000 sculptures, around 9500 photos, over 200 posters, over 300 carnival masks and costumes. Another part of the museum collection is the specialist library of 25 000 titles and 1000 volumes of periodicals in 35 languages. A big part of those works of art are obtained through donations. This abundance gives the opportunity for constant update of the expositions, and the mounting of topical expositions of various author and themes. For over 35 years of existence, the HSS has organised over 500 topical, group, individual and traveling exhibits in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

. The HSS is a unique cultural institute of humor and satirical art with an international resonance. It was created on the site of an old leather and tanning factory on April 1, 1972. The architectural design was by

Karl Kandulkov Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austrian ...

. It is a proud successor of the local folklore humor and carnival traditions of Gabrovo - the Bulgarian capital of humor. The HSS embarks on various activities - it is a museum of laughter, a gallery of the international humorous art, an information center, a place for recreation, a tourist attraction for both the young and the elderly. Its emblem is the Earth's globe with cat eyes and ears, to "see and hear" the world's humor, and invokes the mascot of Gabrovo - the cat. The goal of the House of humour and satire is to collect, show and popularise the humour of the people in the fields of fine arts, literature and folklore, photography, poster, merry holidays and masquerade traditions around the world. The House of humour and satire is a veritable palace with its 10 exhibition halls (totalling some 8000 sq. metres), a library, a recording studio, a conference hall, a souvenir stand, a night cafe, and a free parking lot. The House of Humour and Satire offers its guests four floors of permanent expositions (''The Roots of Gabrovo humour'', ''Eden'', ''Sin'', ''Planet Gabrovo'', ''The Mask - the Face of Holiday'', ''Carnivals around the world''), temporary exhibitions of humorous art, as well as many fun

distorting mirror A distorting mirror, funhouse mirror or carnival mirror is a popular attraction at carnivals and fairs. Instead of a normal plane mirror that reflects a perfect mirror image, distorting mirrors are curved mirrors, often using convex and concave sec ...

s, copper bells, a huge figure of the Gabrovo cat with its severed tail, etc. Located in the center of Gabrovo, close to the bus station and train station, the House of Humour and Satire welcomes its visitors with happy greetings of favorite humorous characters, whose sculptures are shown in the Park of Laughter. Among them are: * the famously witty character

Hitar Petar Hitar Petar or Itar Pejo (Itar Petar) ( bg, Хитър Петър, mk, Итар Пејо or Итар Петар, meaning "''Crafty Peter''") is a character of Bulgarians, Bulgarian and Macedonians (ethnic group), Macedonian folklore. He is a poo ...

(Crafty Peter); * the greatest comedian of all time

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...

; * the inseparable couple of

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of Wester ...

and

Sancho Panza Sancho Panza () is a fictional character in the novel ''Don Quixote'' written by Spanish author Don Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra in 1605. Sancho acts as squire to Don Quixote and provides comments throughout the novel, known as ''sanchismos'', ...

; * a huge sun dial; * the strange metal

Tower of Babylon The Tower of Babel ( he, , ''Mīgdal Bāḇel'') narrative in Genesis 11:1–9 is an origin myth meant to explain why the world's peoples speak different languages. According to the story, a united human race speaking a single language and mi ...

External links

Web site of the ''House of Humour and Satire''

Podcast Interview with ''House of Humour and Satire'' Director Margarita Dariskova
{{Authority control Gabrovo Bulgarian humour Buildings and structures in Gabrovo Province Tourist attractions in Gabrovo Province

Collection and activities

See also

External links