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A marble cross of the Latin type was discovered by chance in 1981 in the locality of Kapitanitsa, near the village of Leskovets, Oriahovo district, now kept in the Historical Museum there, No 2560; with dimensions 59 x 36 cm; made of white marble. It represents the True Cross, made of an ancient oak tree, which all of a sudden came into leaf with two branches. The masterpiece reveals an antique sense of volume, the essence of difference surfaces, and the organic asymmetry of nature. Such types of crosses are not met in the Early Christian period in Bulgaria, and rare parallels come from Carthage -probably from a baptisterium, and have a liturgical function. The same purpose is assumed in the article and it is also considered that this type of crossed reflects the West Roman liturgy at the end of the IV - beginning of the V century, in the western part of the Lower Danube (from the line Oriahovo - Storgosis westwards), together with the Latin mosaic inscription of Basilica No 1 from Storgosia, part of the Western liturgy, and gold glass fragments from the necropolis also there. The cross was probably plased in front of the bema or aside in the eastern part of the Good Shepherd, coming from the village of Selanovtsy, Oriahovo district, published long ago and included among the Exhibition monuments of the Christian Art in Bulgaria, in 2001, in Rome. In the Catalogue the statue is considered to be from the tetrarchy. In our article the date is later, about the middle of the V century, according to the stylistic features (eyes, curls, tunic, pose). The hole on the tope of the statue (the capital-like top) is probably intended for a stand and so the whole statue was a candlestick or a leg of a table or decoration of fountain. Both monuments reflect the earlier phase of official Christian art of IV - beginning of the V century, when plastic values and marble were still very widely used in liturgical objects and implements, and during the V-VI centuries they were replaced definitely by metal ones almost entirely, and the ancient plasticity disappeared too.
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The joint Exhibitions or the artistic societies „New Artistes” (Sofia) and „Zemlja” (Zagreb) held in Sofia. Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana (1934 - 1936). This is the second part of an article, discussing the problem of the character and the motivation for the artistic exchange on the Balkans during the 1930’s. Different methods of analysis - contextual and stylistic, have been combined in the research. The joint exhibitions of the "New Artists” and “Zemlja” in Sofia, Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana, 1934-1936, organized on private sources, are compared with the officially organized and financially supported by the state exhibitions of "The Seven” (Bulgarian artists) in Belgrade, 1933 and of the artistic society “Oblik” (from Belgrade) in Sofia, 1934. Common features and differences between the two artistic societies hold out opportunities for discussing the Variety of modern artistic practices on the Balkans. The analysis of the critical reception of the artistic manifestations of “the Balkan neighbours” is a substantial part of the study. Conclusion is drawn that a kind of modern figurative representation (“conservative modernism”), no matter postimpressionist. Postcezannist or naivistic, could be the “common ground” for the artistic exchange on the Balkans at the and of the l920’s and during the 1930’s. This study is a part of a larger research of the author on the Balkan artistic exchanges and is connected to other articles (like In the mirror of the foreign critic: The Exhibition of “The Seven” in Belgrade, 1933. In: “Kultura” Weekly, 1996, N 34. “Sofia - Athens: two Exchanged Exhibitions”. In: “Art Studies Quarterly”. 2000, N I, etc.).
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