EINTRAGUNGEN IM BESUCHERBUCH DES NATIONALEN HISTORISCHEN MUSEUMS IN SOFIA. ZUR REZEPTION VON SYMBOLEN NATIONALER VERGANGENHEIT
COMMENTS IN THE VISITORS’ BOOK OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF HISTORY IN SOFIA. ON THE PERCEPTION OF SYMBOLS OF NATIONAL PAST

Summary/Abstract: The paper considers the comments of museum visitors on the earliest book on Bulgarian history (1762) to which Bulgarian historians have given the significance of pillar of the “national revival” and examines them as sources for the analysis of how people perceive the past. The comments do not refer to the exhibit as historical artifact, but much more as evidence for historical continuity and as a symbol of the common past and national affiliation. They bring the past into the present and put emphasis on its political and cultural meanings for the present. Although separate individuals wrote their own comments, they reproduced ideas from a shared historico-political knowledge. They reflected the scholarly presentations and evaluations of the past and the festive rhetoric of public commemorative celebrations as well. The past is perceived through a lens of collective concepts acquired and maintained by means of institutionalised activities such as academic research, schooling, and rituals. From another point of view, the comments are evidence for the impact of the cultural management of cultural and political elites on popular understanding.

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