Менталност и сакралност ІІ. Структура на сакрума: Култът към Света Богородица в град Самоков
Mentality and Sacrality II. Structure of the Sacrum: The Cult to St. Mother of God in Samokov town

Summary/Abstract: The article presents the cult to St. Mother of God in Samokov which is unique for the Bulgarian ethnic territory. There are examined the main thrones of the Samokov churches (most of them built before the beginning of XIX century) and through them it brings out the model of the sacral space of Samokov – it constitutes of “St. Mother of God – St. Nikola” as St. Mother of God nominate “our space” and St. Nikola – “the beyond”. The terrain records display the role of St. Mother of God for the saving of town in different crisis moments. It is expressed the hypothesis that the discovered Episcopal church in Shishman stronghold over Samokov town is devoted to one of the major Virgin Mary’s feasts. It is also supposed that in later centuries (X-XIV century) around the stronghold are built more churches which are devoted to St. Mother of God. After the destroying of the town (the stronghold, the monastery complex etc.) in the end of XIV century and the appearance of the “new” Samokov in the beginning of XV century on the right riverside of Iskur several kilometers down, the natives carry the memory about Virgin Mary’s churches of Shishman stronghold in the new town and they built it up there in the period of XV-XIX century.

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