Средновековни традиции във формата на свещници от ново време
Mediaeval traditions in the shape of modern candlesticks

Summary/Abstract: The publication examines the continuity in the shape candlesticks resembling a pair of horses from the Middle Ages to the present time. A survey is made of the appearance, dating and propagation of the composition consisting of two joined and opposed horse figures. The earliest evidence for it is discovered in the circle of Turkic monuments (Tastik culture), though towards the 9th-10th century it also spread among the Slavs, Ugrofinns, Baltic and Norman tribes. This was probably due to the existing contact zones among the above mentioned ethnic group which led to varied relations and contacts. It is supposed that the candlesticks were made in Eurasian workshops, from where they were marketed and thus they gradually lost their ethnic definiteness. The horse figures were perceived as solar symbols by the Turkic, Baltic and Slav tribes. They were widespread in Bulgaria, too, during the early Middle Ages, mainly cast in the form of amulets and steels. As regards the construction of the candlesticks, it is supposed to have been borrowed from the material culture of Byzantium, because such candlesticks occur among finds from Corinth and Athens, with lions and griffins instead. The only reliablydated find from Bulgaria is from Dorostorum (present-day Silistra), mid-11th century, when Byzantine rule was imposed there. It is believed, however, that the cited example was not a mechanical borrowing of artistic models from the Empire, because there was an ideological and artistic reinterpretation of the candlesticks in accordance with local tastes. Thus for example, the lions and griffins are replaced by the pair of horses — a popular decorative motif among Slavs and Proto- Bulgarians. The construction and the shape of the examined candlesticks were preserved throughout the years of Ottoman domination, being common in Bulgaria during the National Revival period and until the beginning of the 20th century. This is a rare instance of continuity from the Middle Ages until the present time.

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