We sometimes measure their stay on this earth in days, but with an ethereal flight they transform a moment into a beautiful memory. The Regional Natural History Museum of Plovdiv dedicates its Butterfly Festival to these fleeting creatures of nature. The festival will be held from September 19 to 21.

The sixth Butterfly Festival will again focus on children, for whom the museum has prepared many surprises - various workshops, thematic lectures, images of insects on their faces. Before its start, however, participants aged 5 to 18 sent their drawings for the "Butterfly World" competition. "What is most impressive in it is the creativity of the children, who use different materials, for example, leaves and their diligence and desire to excel are evident," says Ivona Asenova, public relations officer at the cultural institution.

The idea of ​​the festival is to show the diversity of butterflies – their flight, journey, transformation and beauty. In addition to creativity the event will also have an educational side.

"The metamorphosis of the butterflies will be presented and children will also learn about the body parts of the insects,” Ivona Asenova adds. “We have also planned several lectures related to butterflies. One of them will be about butterflies in Bulgaria and why they are important for our planet Earth."

If the weather is sunny and it is not raining, the festival will leave the museum building so that young and old can feel its atmosphere in nature and children can have fun. However, the butterflies will remain in their home in the "Tropic" hall, where visitors and residents, albeit briefly, share a common space.

"The hall presents a rich collection of tropical butterflies, but also of tropical plants,” the museum's PR says. “We maintain certain humidity and temperature so that our butterflies feel comfortable in it. We have species from Africa, Asia, Australia and America. We order the pupae every two weeks from special farms from abroad so that the hall can be open all year round and people can see a wide variety of butterflies. With each visit, they get acquainted with new species and are interested in learning more."

There are 2,900 species of butterflies in Bulgaria, as just 218 of them are diurnal. The life of the exquisite insects lasts very short - sometimes a week.

"Our species are not as large as the tropical ones, which are also distinguished by a variety of wing colours,” Ivona Asenova says. “Bulgarian butterflies are more unpretentious. In addition to the bright colours, the other difference between the tropical and our local species is the size. Visitors can see all this in the Tropic Hall of the Regional Natural History Museum of Plovdiv."

An interesting fact is that we can establish contact with the fragile creatures and this depends on... our clothing.

"Butterflies love bright colours and whenever a visitor comes wearing such clothing, they constantly land on him or her,” the museum's PR says. “It turns out that they are attracted to bright colours because they associate them with food. We advise people to wear brighter-coloured clothes so that the butterflies can land on them."

Author: Diana Tsankova

Publication in English: Alexander Markov

Photos: rnhm.org, Plovdiv Municipality, Facebook /Regional Natural History Museum Plovdiv