The article sheds light on several aspects of cultural relations between France and communist Bulgaria in the mid-1980s, drawing on documents from the archives of the French Ministry of Culture held at the National Archives of France. It emphasizes the importance that the authorities in Sofia attached to promoting Bulgarian culture in France and to framing Franco-Bulgarian relations within a shared and positively valued historical narrative. At the same time, the article outlines some of the mechanisms and underlying dynamics of this asymmetrical cultural relationship as it unfolded on both sides of the Iron Curtain.