There are quite a few persons the town of Chirpan is so proud of. Here, in 1940, the famous artist Nikola Manev was born. Ever since 1964 he has been working in France, where he graduated from the Higher School of Arts. He has organised many exhibitions in Paris predominantly, but also in London, Geneva, Vienna, etc. He has had more than 85 exhibitions altogether all over the world. Some define his art-style as close to the abstract, others ? as close to the fantasy. In the year 2000, Nikola Manev bought and donated to the Chirpan Municipality an old Revival-period house that used to be a museum of the revolutionary movement. The restored house, according to the donator?s wish, was turned into a town art gallery. The house is very close to the Peyo Yavorov Museum-House. When opening the new art gallery, Nikola Manev also donated 20 of his most famous paintings, thus starting its fund of paintings. The gallery also exhibits a collection of crystals, donated by Mr.Ilia Delchev ? a Bulgarian living in Brazil. The gallery often organises events together with the Chirpan Municipality. The chief priority of the gallery is to promote the work of the local artists, thus giving a significant impulse to the culture life in the town.A recent publication in the Standard newspaper informs us that the writers Anton Donchev and Pavel Matev are the first winners of the ?Town of Chirpan and the Nikola Manev Gallery? Award. ?The event was so impressive, just as the fine people I met and their attitude towards it..? were the words of Anton Donchev, the eminent author of ?Times of Division? , just minutes after he got awarded with a painting by the famous artist. He called the exposition of paintings by Manev and the gigantic crystals from Orinoko, exhibited in the old house, ?a reflection from another planet, ? an encounter with the world of natural phenomena having minds?? Anton Donchev said he would be so glad to place the painting onto the white wall in his study, to remind him of the golden autumn the two eminent Bulgarians first met.