SIMPOSIUM „ 80 th YEARS ORGANISED SPELEOLOGY IN BULGARIA” - CONFERENCE “ EXPLORATION AND PROTECTION OF CAVES” СБОРНИК С МАТЕРИАЛИ PROCEEDINGS БЪЛГАРСКА ФЕДЕРАЦИЯ ПО СПЕЛЕ- (original) (raw)

Two forums were organized in order to confirm the established tradition in the frameworks of the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Student Cave Club “Academic” – Sofia, and later – the 80th jubilee of the Bulgarian Federation of Speleology. The first one – the conference „Exploration and Protection of Karst and Caves” took place on 24 October 2008, where were presented 12 reports from 22 authors with various subjects. One of the numerous events, which the Bulgarian Federation of Speleology dedicated to its 80th anniversary, is the jubilee symposium „80 Years Organized Speleology in Bulgaria“. It took place on 22 March 2009. Related events, organized by BFS are the official meeting, exhibitions, National Cave Assembly, expeditions, etc. The host of the both events was the National Museum “The Earth and Man” – a place, which owing to its director Ass. Prof. Dr. Michail Maleev was turned into a national centre of the Bulgarian cavers and speleologists. In advance participation in the symposium declared 22 authors with 15 reports in the sphere of history of speleology, karst researches in Bulgaria (including mineralogy, hydrogeology and dive work, geology, climatology, as well as informatics, history, archaeology and archaeo-astronomy, rational use and research of regions in and outside the country. In the spirit of the established cooperation in the frameworks of the speleological society, we took the decision to publish the materials from the two scientific forums in one inner book, entitled “Symposium 80 Years Organized Speleology in Bulgaria“, divided into two parts: Materials from the jubilee „80 Years Organized Speleology in Bulgaria“ as well as materials from the conference „Exploration and Protection of the Karst and Caves”. We are convinced that this edition would contribute to the enlargement of the book heritage of the speleology in our country. We hope that the edition would be of use not only to cavers and speleologists but also to larger range of readers, who are interested in the caves and caving.