The first 20 years of the development of the festival, which started as "Musical Days of Bulgarian-German Friendship", will be presented. The exhibition shows photos from the first concert, held on March 10, 1961 with the premiere of the overture "September 1923", under the baton of the author Vasil Kazandjiev, as well as from "The Cantata of Victory" by Ernst Hermann Meyer performed by The Ruse Philharmonic Orchestra with conductor Iliya Temkov, the Danube Sounds Choir and the soloists Mimi Nikolova and Kiril Krastev.

Spectators will be able to see documents related to the organization of the festival, memories and interviews of participants, photos and posters from the concerts, as well as programs with the presented works. The exhibition recalls some of the most emblematic guest appearances on the festival stage in the 1960s and 1970s, such as the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir with conductors Rolf Kleinert and Helmut Koch, the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra with conductor Kurt Mazur , The Soviet Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra with conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky, the Gevandhaus Orchestra with conductor Vaclav Neumann, the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra with conductor Yuri Temirkanov, the Moscow Chamber Orchestra with conductor Rudolf Barshay, The Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra with the conductors D. Petkov, K. Iliev, Al. Vladigerov and many other instrumentalists, singers and conductors with international recognition.
A special place was given to Dmitry Shostakovich's visit to Ruse in 1965 and the staging of the opera Katerina Izmailova. Photos from the preparation and from the performance itself, the composer's autograph and reviews in the local press are shown.

It is interesting to see the photos with thematic decoration of the shop windows during the festival, as well as documents ordering the supply of the trade network with scarce goods, conducting instruction in hotels for cultural services to guests from abroad, as well as for providing DAP - Ruse on buses to transport spectators after the concerts.
In addition to documents and photos from the fund of the State Archives - Ruse, the exhibition uses materials provided by the daughter of Iliya Temkov - Milena Temkova and the violinist Rumyana Varbanova.

With some exceptions, the vast majority of documents and photographs are published for the first time.
The exhibition will be on display during the festival - from September 17 to October 3.