Sculptor, former minister of culture and chairman of the 48th National Assembly Vezhdi Rashidov has died. He passed away at the age of 74 after a short illness. His death was confirmed by his family after the sad news was reported by journalist Valeria Veleva.
“A great artist, a great Bulgarian, a great man! Rest in peace, my dear friend!”, Veleva wrote.
Among the first to pay tribute to him was GERB leader Boyko Borisov. “To me, he was a friend,” Borisov wrote, describing Rashidov as a man with a huge heart, a strong character and talent. Lili Ivanova also expressed her condolences to his family.
Members of parliament paid tribute to Rashidov with a minute of silence. Through his work, he left his mark on both Bulgarian art and public and political life.
Vezhdi Rashidov’s artistic career
Vezhdi Letif Rashidov was born on December 14, 1951, in Dimitrovgrad. In 1970, he graduated from the Ilya Petrov School of Fine Arts in Sofia, and in 1978 he completed a degree in Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts.
Since 1978, he had taken part in national and international exhibitions, biennials and symposiums. His works were displayed at the International Sculpture Biennale in Ravenna and at the World Art Fair in Basel. His solo exhibitions included those at UNESCO in Paris in 1989, in Tokyo in 1992 and at the Oscar Wilde Museum in Dublin in 2006.
Rashidov worked not only in sculpture, but also in drawing and watercolour. His honours included the Vatican’s Dante Alighieri gold medal in 1981, first prize at the International Biennial of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo in 1983, and the VERA Grand Prize for sculpture at the Traditions and Modernity international festival in Moscow in 2009.
He was a recipient of the Order of Stara Planina with ribbon and a corresponding member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. His works are held in Bulgarian galleries and foreign collections, including the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, the Pushkin Museum in Moscow and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
Minister and speaker of parliament
Rashidov served as minister of culture in two Boyko Borisov governments – from 2009 to 2013 and from 2014 to 2017. Over the years, he was elected seven times as a member of parliament from GERB.
In October 2022, he became chairman of the 48th National Assembly following a series of unsuccessful votes and an agreement reached among the parliamentary forces. In August 2023, he announced that he was leaving GERB and politics after a public scandal, and parliament subsequently accepted his resignation as an MP.
After withdrawing from active politics, Rashidov continued to pursue art. In May 2025, he presented an exhibition of bronze masks and drawings dedicated to Beethoven. In July 2026, he spoke about the condition of some of his sculptures in Kardzhali.
Sources: dnes.dir.bg, euronews.bg, bgonair.bg