UNDP Resident Coordinator Neil Buhne attended Saturday the auction of snails masterpieces at Sofia City Gallery. 70% of the proceeds will be granted to the U.N. program for disadvantaged young people. Photo by Gergana Kostadinova (Sofia News Agency)
The colourful snails, which were exhibited in open air in downtown Sofia at the end of 2004, were offered at an auction at Sofia City Gallery Saturday morning.
The initial price per snail was set at BGN 1500. Seven out of all fifteen snails were sold at the tender, 70% of whose proceeds will be granted to a U.N. program for helping socially disadvantaged young people.
Last year Bulgarian artists turned 29 fiber-glass snails of weight 30 kg and height 1.35 m each into spectacular masterpieces, mounted later in front of the Presidency and in front of the Hilton Hotel in Sofia.
The organizers of the exhibition, including Isabelle Sol Dourdin, local Gallery Artamontzev and Sofia Municipality, have designed to charge snails with the symbolic presentation of the significant virtues and shortcomings of the Bulgarian people.
The snail is one of the oldest inhabitants of the Earth that has survived in its different forms until nowadays due to its great capacity to adapt to various surroundings. The snail illustrates the wisdom and the correctness of the proverb "hurry slowly in order to go far", the organizers of the project have explained earlier.