Bulgarian chess king Veselin Topalov donated his world cup to the National History Museum in Sofia on Friday. Photo by Kameliya Atanasova (Sofia News Agency)
Bulgarian chess king Veselin Topalov donated his world cup to the National History Museum in Sofia on Friday.
Prof. Bozhidar Dimitrov, chief of the museum accepted the trophy, claiming to be happy to have lived to see a Bulgarian who was a bigger patriot than himself.
This was the right place for the trophy, Topalov stated, because it would be a waste to keep it in his private show case, as he had won it for Bulgaria. However he did mention that he wanted it back for a day or two in December when he would come back to Bulgaria to visit his birth town of Ruse.
Dimitrov awarded Topalov with a new special edition of the historic book Historia Slavyanobolgarskaya. He added that the last sports-related artifact that the museum had placed on display was an ancient golden crown of an Olympic champion from fifth century B.C., who later became a Thracian King.
Dimitrov also showed Topalov the Olympic and world medals of Bulgaria's legendary wrestler Boyan Radev, placed on display in a special corner.