Планировка и функции на християнските скални обители по Шуменското плато
Layout and Functions of the Christian Rock Monasteries on the Shumen Plateau

Summary/Abstract: There is scarce information about the rock churches and monasteries, and their partial research, the insufficient archaeological findings and the destructive processes that have occurred for various reasons raise a number of discussion questions, mostly related to the timing, structuring and functioning of many of the rock abodes. In recent decades, the opinion has been held that a part of the rock cells and hermitages in North-Eastern Bulgaria, which arose in the 4th - 6th centuries, were reused during the First Bulgarian Kingdom, together with the newly emerging Monoshek colonies, whose apogee was in the 13th - 14th centuries. In this sense, the study of the rock cloisters on the Shumen Plateau provides an opportunity to outline in more detail the parameters of the Christian cult sites and to substantiate the idea of building a network of monastic colonies in the Shumen region. The presentation and grouping of the individual monastic retreats (cells and niches) and the fully formed rock monasteries consisting of a church(es), a different number of cells (caves and niches), tomb(s), allows to examine the structuring, functioning and expansion of monasticism on the Shumen Plateau.

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