Kasnogotički pećnjaci s Garić-grada

Author(s): Ivana Škiljan / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 4/2011

The paper presents the results of the visual clay and glaze analysis carried out on restored stove tiles and pieces safe-kept at the Museum of Moslavina in Kutina; these results indicate that for the making of all the analysed stove tiles, which were synchronously made, the same casts and two types of clay were used. The stove tiles of Garić grad are divided into twenty various types and compared with analogue finds of stove tiles originating from the area divided into the so-called western and eastern region of the stove-making production. Stove tiles with full decorative front plates have relief ornaments – presentations as found in bestiaries, mediaeval literary descriptions of monsters and animals. When comparing the illuminations in the subject manuscripts with the presentations on stove tiles, all the motives used and their symbolics may be unmistakably recognised. Further, when considering the motives on the front plates and comparing them with analogue material, the influence of the stove-making products from workshops dating from the era of Sigismund of Luxemburg (the first half of the 15th ct.) may be recognised.

Читалищата в съвременното университетско преподаване (Проучване на случай – Великотърновски университет „Св. св. Кирил и Методий“)

Author(s): Margarita Karamihova,Petko St. Petkov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2019

The researches and the university teaching on the topic of chitalishte are among the traditional but barely presented themes in Bulgarian history education. At the same time, the establishment and functioning of the chitalishta as an active element of the system, which will organize the future of the independent state (19th century), continues to focus the interest of the researchers of Bulgarian modernity.The article comments the contemporary teaching concerning the role of the chitalishta in modern Bulgarian history and culture at the University of Veliko Tarnovo, which gave rise to the necessity of realizing "Find a Treasure!" project. The results of the project and its potential for future national research are presented.

За Инес Кьолер-Цюлх – признат изследовател, уважаван и обичан колега и искрен приятел на България (1941–2019)

Author(s): Doroteya Dobreva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2019

In memoriam

Nationalism, Politics, and Museums in Turkey under the Justice and Development Party (AKP): The Case of the Panorama Museum 1453

Author(s): Lorenzo Posocco / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2018

Museums are institutions dedicated to the collection and preservation of artefacts, but they are also sites of national production that contribute to shaping the nation’s collective memory. Sometimes, history exhibited in museums becomes the centre of cultural wars that are not fought on battlefields, but on information panels and showcases: devices where the national past is contested, rewritten, and exhibited. With the coming to power of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the institutional representation of Turkish national history was subject to significant changes. Conforming with the national ideology of the AKP, recently built museums focus more on Turkey’s Ottoman and Islamic heritage, and less on similarly important ones such as the Greek,Roman, Byzantine, and the more recent Kemalist traditions. Investigating the case study of the Panorama Museum 1453 – one of the most popular attractions for domestic and foreign tourists in Istanbul – this paper examines the way in which politics influences collective remembrance of the past. Its goal is to trace the material links between the government,artists and historians, supporting the spread of Islamic and Ottoman history, and the new museums which exhibit it.

Re-reading Skok and Rostaing. Old and New Perspectives on the Linguistic Stratification in Europe

Author(s): Sorin Paliga / Language(s): English Issue: 25/2018

The paper aims at resuming a once vivid discussion regarding the Pre-Indo-European (Pre-IE) heritage of Europe. Two old studies have been chosen as relevant in the field: Skok 1950 and Rostaing 1950, incidentally both published in the same year. At that time, the two authors represented an active trend in the field of historical and comparative linguistics, meanwhile somewhat blurred by the approaches to the so-called Nostratic hypothesis. The references try to summarise some of the relevant studies in what we may label the study of the Pre-IE heritage, but also ‘the Nostratic connection.’ In the first category, beside the two authors mentioned above, Alessio, Battisti, Bertoldi, Cocco, Devoto, Trombetti, and others should be quoted. They represent the old generations of linguists, also Mușu (little known abroad), Beekes and Leschber, as representatives of the younger generations. In the second category, reflecting a very active trend now, to mention Andreev and Illič-Svityč. The author’s hypothesis is that the Pre-IE heritage is crucial in understanding the linguistic stratification of Europe, mainly of Southeast Europe, remarkably reconstructed by Skok, for example. It is also important to understand that this very old linguistic stratum represented an essential component of Old Greek, Thracian and Illyrian, with some elements preserved in the modern languages of SE Europe, i.e. those labelled as the Balkansprachbund. In fact, the investigation of the Pre-IE heritage, on the one hand, and the Nostratic approach, on the other, do not exclude each other. The analyses should consider both directions, now supported by the archaeological discoveries and by DNA analysis.

An Investigation of Official Corruption in Ottoman Egypt: Processes and Documents of Ottoman Administration

Author(s): Linda Darling / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2016

The investigation in question is recorded in a series of thirty-eight register entries on a case of financial malfeasance in recently-conquered Ottoman Egypt that was investigated by officials from Ottoman Syria. This case appears in the oldest existing mühimme defteri, a register of important affairs of the Ottoman Empire, and provides detailed information about how the Ottomans governed their provinces. It lists many of the taxes and revenues collected by the Ottomans and discusses the most important treasury personnel in the province and the documents they created. It also describes how the Ottoman state worked to control those personnel even at a distance and to induce these officials to adhere to concepts of just imperial rule. The article describes the issues in the case and identifies the provincial officials involved in the investigation, the documents they were supposed to collect or create, and the procedures they were commanded to follow. The conclusion examines the implications of the case for our understanding of the place of Syria and Egypt within the wider Ottoman Empire in the sixteenth century. This episode presents an instance of the Ottoman integration of newly conquered lands in a period when records are fairly plentiful (in contrast to the conquest of Rumeli, where most of our evidence comes from chronicles written at a later date). Beyond that, this case illuminates the whole issue of how an empire operates and challenges the stereotype of general Ottoman oppression of the conquered territories.

Черковни сметки и народни разказвателни сюжети из възрожденски Пирдоп

Author(s): Georgi D. Georgiev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2016

The text contains elements from the history of the town of Pirdop and its` surroundings during the 19-th century. The codex of the local church community has been studied in detail. The accounting within was noted for two decades by the hand of the local notable, Simon. It starts from the decoration of the new church and further on contains data on the functioning of the church community as a microcredit institution. The core of local notable families was examined, as they were the leaders of the church community. More recent pre-Liberation ethnographic documentation, gathered by the teacher Simeon Aldov (Serdanov) was examined from a general anthropological, „patrimonial“, socioeconomical, ecological and geographical point of view in the frame of the region. Robbery and crime, local political unrest and their consequences have been mentioned in a cholistic perspective, in the spirit of local and regional studies.

Връзката между титлите на висши сановници в Българското царство и Дунавските княжества

Author(s): Tervel Popov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2016

The article aims to compare the titles of some dignitaries in the Bulgarian kingdom and the corresponding titles of the dignitaries in Wallachia and Moldova. The cited sources are mostly Wallachian and Moldovan documents from XIV–XV century, when the Byzantine-Bulgarian influence on the state regulations of the Danubian principalities is strongest.

80 години Исторически музей – Самоков

Author(s): Albena Simova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2016

Архивен документ с описание на облеклото в Трънско окръжие през 1888 г

Author(s): Margaret Dimitrova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2019

This paper aims to analyse a document containing a description of the costumes, footwear, and accessories from Tran administrative region (okrazhie) in 1888. Duringthis period, the region included three separate districts (okolii): Tran, Tsaribrod, andBreznik. The aforementioned description was required by Bulgaria’s Ministry ofInternal Affairs. The document was signed by the vice secretary of the governor of theTran region who summarized the descriptions sent by the administrators of the threedistricts mentioned. Albeit written ten years after the liberation of Bulgaria from theOttoman rule, when there was no unified standard for the administrative register ofthe literary language, and the orthographical rules varied in the influential grammarsof that time, the document was written in a well-balanced style combining local wordsdenoting clothes, as well as lexemes and forms considered by the administrator to bewidespread and literary ones. Outside the clothing terminology, he did not use locallexis and forms. In addition, he tried to consistently follow the orthographic ruleshe knew using the historical letters ѫ, ѣ, ъ, and ь according to the etymology. Thevariation which occurs in the manner of designation of the definite article reflects thevariation of the orthographic rules at the time being.The account on the female and male costumes witness the transition fromlinen and hemp underclothes to cotton ones, and from the rich embroidery of thefemale costume to ornaments made of lace and stripes. New elements of the costumecertifying for a tendency towards alafranga style (European clothes) are sack andpaletot, which replaced the fur-coats. Imported materials were used mostly forwomen’s head coverings and summer dresses.

Типове народни костюми в Софийско в архивен документ от 1889 г. 1. Самоковска и Софийска околия

Author(s): Iva Stanoeva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2019

The Scientific Archive of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences possesses a little known massive of handwritten documents from the end of the 19th century. These documentsare reports of the Regional Governors to the Minister of the Interior that containdata about the folk costumes of the different population groups in the respectiveregions. The present article analyses the report by the Governor of the Region ofSofia. This document describes the particular types of male and female costumestypical for the different settlements in all the districts of the region. The total lack ofresearch on clothing at that time provokes the author’s interest to discover the reasonslying behind the typologization of the folk costumes in Sofia region. Comparingand analysing the information about the costumes (the elements out of which theywere made; the materials used; the ways of decoration etc.), the author outlines thedifferential markers which provided the reasoning for the typologization. The articleconsists of two parts. The first, which is published in this issue of the journal, analysesthe descriptions of the costumes in Samokov and Sofia districts. The second part willexplore the districts of Zlatitsa, Novoseltsi (Elin Pelin) and Iskrets.

Етнодемографският облик на Североизточна България през погледа на провинциалната администрация в края на ХІХ век

Author(s): Delyan Rusev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2019

The paper offers an analysis of the ethno-demographic data found in a corpus of handwritten documents related to the Province of Varna in North-eastern Bulgaria and compiled in 1888 as a result of a state-wide initiative for collecting information on the traditional clothes of the population. The related data is explored in the context of other contemporary sources in order to trace tendencies and specificities in the approach of the local administration – which was responsible for carrying out of the survey – towards the ethnicity as a concept and a means of population mapping,as well as towards the represented ethnic groups in particular. The paper highlights the meanings of the term ‘ethnicity’ (narodnost) as applied in the sources under consideration, and discusses the (in)visibility of certain communities, including the ethnographic groups that form them. Moreover, an attempt is made to set the discussion against the background of imperial legacy and the social structures and concepts that functioned in the nineteenth-century Ottoman state as opposed to those developing in the newly founded Bulgarian national state.

Между спецификата, стереотипа и „осиновяването“ на дрехата на другия

Author(s): Miglena Ivanova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2019

The article is based on a massive of poorly known archival documents dating from1888 and 1889 and preserved at the Scientific Archives of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. These handwritten documents provide information for the population of Bulgaria on its entire territory and describe the different varieties of local costumes atthe end of the 19th century. Photographic images are also added to illustrate the written descriptions. The author focusses her attention on those documents in the massive which indicate that some of the Gagauz women wore shalwars and finds that by theend of the 19th century the garment under consideration was quite popular amongthem. The pattern and manner of wearing such shalwars clearly shows that they wereearlier worn predominantly by Muslim women but were further “adopted” by theOrthodox Gagauz women in the period of modernization of the Ottoman Empire.

Отглеждане на коноп и производство на конопени влакна през 50-те години на ХХ век. По примера на с. Мездрея, област Монтана

Author(s): Yana Yancheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2019

The article aims to present the cultivation of fibrous hemp plants and the extraction of hemp fibers in the 1950s by studying the case of the village of Mezdreya, northwestern Bulgaria. The author describes in detail the process of hemp growing –sowing and plant care, harvesting and seed storage, preparation of the stem immersion equipment, drying, washing and processing of hemp stems and fibres. The emphasis is placed on the social relations arising in the cultivation and processing of hemp. The research has been set in the framework of regional and national studies and in the economic and political context of the period between the late 19th century and the end of the 1950s. Thus, it was possible to track the processes over a period of almost a century.

Сведения за българската история в Западноруската редакция на руския Хронограф

Author(s): Denitsa Petrova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2019

The Russian Chronograph is one of the most significant chronicles in Russian literature. It has several redactions – the First from 1512, the Basic from 1617 and the West Russian from the middle of the 16th century. Each of the variants contains information about Bulgarian history from the settlement of the Proto-Bulgarians in the Danube River area until the death of Tsar Mihail III Shishman. The West Russian version differs because of the distinct sources used in its compilation. This peculiarity is also noticed in the evidence on Bulgarian history, which has not yet been the subject of independent research.

Паметта за последната песен на Левски – истина или мистификация

Author(s): Veselka Toncheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 17/2019

The text explores the existing information about the last song Vasil Levski was sing before being hanged in terms of the truth or mystifica¬tions that contains or “produces” the memory in opposition or dialogizing with the historical fact about the death of the Apostle. The main question is – where, in the context of the various interpretations, is “situated” the folk knowledge that before the hanging Vasil Levski was sing a song in the Turkish language – in the field of the experience, preserved in memory and accepted as authentic, on the verbal history through subjective narrative or in the sphere of the manipulable memory?

Образът на „Червената армия“ в устните разкази и колективната памет

Author(s): Nikolay Nenov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 17/2019

The text presents the changes in the images of the Red Army from oral stories in Bulgaria. The relation between memory and history creates tension in the images reaching us today because they are related to what is absent in the present time and although they use the same resources coming from the past, their functioning is different. Individual memories, collective memories and historical discourse interact and define each other thus constructing, reconstructing and sometimes “inventing” different versions of the past. Nowadays we see the construction of events and the shaping of mass media messages aiming at focusing the empathy people of different generations with the memory of the past on the heroic aspect only – the victory over Hitlerism. “The Immortal Regiment” initiative is a form of ritual resurrection of significant deceased – through it not only the heroes are rationalized as (“eternally”) living, but at the same time the conditionally “neutral” Soviet soldiers are turned into significant ones even for the people in Bul¬garia, therefore indisputably opposing to the image of the “Red Army soldiers”, which are not only insignificant – anonymous and without image, but are also burdened with negative connotations in memory. That way, by constructing images from the past (as it is not clear whether the people in the photographs were real participants in the war, real heroes), considering also the absence of personification of the heroes and the idea of achieving large numbers of people at which the procession with the photographs aims, the topic of the Soviet Army acquires new meanings. The event has an effect on the already existing image shaped by the memories, and gradually changes it. That is the reason why the oral stories about the time the Red Army was in Bulgaria are more important for us, as much as the memory (of the local community) is seen as a matrix of history containing concepts affecting the present related to the past (Ricoeur 2006). Oral stories have the expressiveness of the narrative of witnesses, the power of the first-person story; such stories, when shared with the next generations, happen to be the most important part of the history, knowledge of the recent past that may fade in people’s memories but is preserved as a document of the period.

Поп Стоица от с. Рельово – сподвижник на митрополит свети Симеон Самоковски

Author(s): Georgi Zahov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 17/2019

This article is for priest Stoitsa from village of Relyovo, near Samokov town, member of a cabal, established in 1730 in the Gornolozenski monastery “Saint Spas,” head of which was the notable Bulgarian bishop Simeon Popovich. Priest Stoitsa prepared the people of the eparchy for uprising. He is captured in the monastery near village of Nedelishte. He is hanged on 21.08.1737 in Sofia together with/collectively with Bishop Simeon Samokovski and many others.

The feast of St. Marina – an event that unifies the Bulgarian-Macedonian minority in Mala Prespa region

Author(s): Petya B. Dimitrova / Language(s): English Issue: 17/2019

Пограничният район Мала Преспа на югозападния бряг на Го¬лямото Преспанско езеро се характеризира с изолацията си от останалата част на Албания. Тази изолация се простира далеч извън географските измерения – отразява се в социализацията на населе¬нието и в контактите с останалите сънародници. Фокусът на статията е върху българомакедонското малцинство, обитаващо девет села на албанския бряг на Голямото Преспанско езеро. Основна тема е почитаният празник на Света Марина (30 юли) и ролята му като съ¬битие, обединяващо българомакедонското малцинство от деветте села, както и от по-далечни дестинации. В допълнение, се представя и мястото на провеждане – манастирът „Света Марина“ край село Туминец. Свидетелствата, доказващи колко забележимо и значител¬но място заема той в народната вяра, се откриват в легенди, сънища и истории за него. Статията се базира основно на теренни етнографски материали, събрани в или в близост до селата Туминец и Зрноско през юли и октомври 2017 г. Ключови изводи относно положението на населението там са: – местните се чувстват обединени в малцинствената си роля и смятат традицията да се празнува Света Марина за един от начините да изразят своята принадлежност;– вярата в светицата остава силна, като същевременно в практи¬ките личи съвременният подход да се обедини религиозното честване с добавяне на множество елементи, типични за селски събор.

Св. Христифор и св. Ѓорѓи – победници над смртта

Author(s): Blagitsa Stojanova / Language(s): Macedonian Issue: 17/2019

During the Early Christian period, life at Vinicko Kale was intensive, if we take into account the discovery of the Terracotta Reliefs – one of a kind in the world. Till now, thirty motifs have been found that date from the end of the 5th and the 6th century. Themes are taken from the Bible, the Old Testimony scenes are presented, psalms are illustrated, psalm Chris¬tian depictions and characters of the Christian saints are represented. In the collection of the world famous Terracotta reliefs discovered on Vinicko Kale, every motif is a rare and unique item. That is the case with the reliefs dedicated to St. Christopher and St. George, winners over death. These two saints belong to the category of the most respected saints and to the order of the greatest martyrs for the Christian faith from the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th century. The uniqueness of this motif refers to the depictions of St. Christopher with the dog’s head which is the earliest one in the Republic of North Macedo¬nia and of St. George with a beard ( his usual iconographic characteristics being young, beardless and with thick curly hair ) as the earliest examples of such iconography. It is interesting that the cult of St. George has sur¬vived till today, not only in Macedonia but wider, in the orthodox Chris¬tian countries, whilst the cult of St. Christopher has been vanishing here in Macedonia so we cannot claim that this saint was especially respected and that there was a great developed cult connected to him. There is more than one legend connected to the life of the saint. De¬pending on whether the legends originated within the influence of the Western or Eastern Church, his biography, has, more or less, different contents. The depictions of St. Christopher with the dog’s head can be met in the medieval frescos in various countries, and here in Macedonia there are frescos and icons painted by our zographers at the end of the 19th century.