Керамичните плочи от село Червена вода, Русенско
The ceramic tiles from the village of Chervena voda, Rousse region

Summary/Abstract: In 17-18th c. Chervena voda used to develop as a satellite village of the Ottoman Ruschuk as well as a convenient place of living for Christians. They used to prefer it because of its somewhat privileged status and its location close to international routes and trade centers. Some of its villagers were among the few active international peasant-traders at that time. Their status opened an opportunity for them to maintain high-level lifestyle manifested in their everyday culture. Some of their preferred lifestyle prototypes could be traced in the Central European material culture. We assume the ceramic tiles from Chervena voda belong to this same Central European culture because they were used as lag-tiles for a “kachel” tile-stove. The preserved ones are as follows: sheet tile with a central fi gure of a horseman holding a spear and a fl ag; decorative relief tiles with deep depressions (kachel half pot type); tiles with curved decoration, angular column with a spiral ornament (tubular tile) and an upper ending frizz with decoration. Similar compositions could be found in the 16-18th c. The samples familiar to me belong to the Astra museum collection in Sibiu. Having in mind that fi rst, we haven’t come across any tile similar to the ones from Chervena voda and second, we know certainly not large number of glazed “kachel” tiles’ collections, we could probably date the tiles from Chervena voda back to the end of the 17th c. Our assumptions are based on the information about the village development, its growth and its contacts outside the Ottoman Empire borders. The “kachel” tiles from Chervena voda are clear proof of a 16-17th c. Central European cultural impact that came southwards across the Danube. They demonstrate rich urban lifestyle standards in the house refurbishment and illustrate the culture interference in the whole region of the Lower Danube.

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