Bulgarian Studies as One of the Slavic Studies at the Faculty of Arts of Comenius University in Bratislava

The authors of the paper present the establishment and development of Slavic Studies and in particular Bulgarian Studies at the Faculty of Arts of Comenius University in Bratislava. Their history begins in 1921 with the Seminar of Slavic Philologies and continues in the Department of Slavic and Indo-European Studies, founded in 1964. The paper traces the traditions of the study of Bulgarian, Polish, Slovenian, Serbian and Croatian languages and cultures, as well as the opportunities for their study at the Department of Slavic Studies today. The paper focuses on the process of establishing Bulgarian Studies as a major and traces its current status – the study programmes, the compulsory and compulsory elective courses, the academic staff, etc. The article is dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the Department of Slavic Studies, the 100th anniversary of the birth of its founder Prof. Šimon Ondruš and the 100th anniversary of Polish Studies, which will be commemorated in the academic year 2024/2025.