Back in 1967, Jacob Van Beelen got to know Bulgaria for the first time as a tourist and immediately fell in love with it. Years later he settled in our country. He first lived in Kotel, and then in Veliko Tarnovo.

So, today, some of his most authentic carpets are exhibited in the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in the French capital and stirred admiration in the visitors. Just like 124 years ago, when Bulgarian carpets from Chiprovtsi and Kotel, won medals by the Seine.

"Bulgarian carpets were shown in Paris for the first time back in 1900, when the Second World Exhibition was organized. From April to November, 58 countries participated, one of them was Bulgaria and got into history with a record number of visitors - over 51 million people", said Desislava Bineva, director of the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in the French capital city.

It turns out that the Second Summer Olympic Games which lasted for 6 months were also part of the program of the exhibition.

"There is another curious detail about Bulgaria's participation and it is that it became an occasion for the creation of the coat of arms of Sofia since the participants were required to send the symbols of their capital cities", said Desislava Bineva.

Jacob Van Beelen. The Dutch is

the only foreign municipal councilor in Bulgaria and owns the richest private collection of Bulgarian carpets.

You won’t believe it, but it is really his dream to make a national museum of Bulgarian carpet making.

Now we will surprise you with something else. Do you know what year the oldest carpet on display is from?

Well, the year is 1830. And the desire of Jacob and Desislava is that the colourful carpets continue to travel through time, preserving and passing on knowledge about this centuries-old Bulgarian tradition.