Отражение этапов развития Тихвинского Большого Успенского монастыря в материалах археологических исследований 2010 г.

Author(s): Svetlana E. Shungina / Language(s): Russian Issue: 5/2013

The article presents archaeological research of trench VII on the area of 122.5 square meters within the boundaries of the Bolshoy Uspensky Monastery in Tikhvin. Disclosed were undisturbed cultural layers, the earliest of which date back to existence of Pretchistensky churchyard. The researchers examined graves of the monastic cemetery (65 graves dated by 18th—19th cc.) in the western part of the trench and defined its eastern border. In the central part of the trench, a fragment of the foundation of the western wall of the Zhitennye cells (barn cells) (this part of the building was disassembled) and foundation trench for the eastern wall of the cells were examined.As a result, we have identified main stages in development of the site, which are confirmed by written sources. First stage (12th—14th centuries) — primary population of this territory; second stage (15th — middle of 16th century) — the settlement prior to construction of the monastery; third stage (second half of 16th — 17th century) — reclaiming of territory by the monastery, construction of the wooden Zhitennye (“barn”) monastic cells; fourth stage (turn of 17th/18th — early 19th century) — stone construction, functioning of the monastic cemetery; fifth stage (middle — second half of the 20th century) — “civil” use of the monastery’s territory. Collection of ceramic material and individual findings can quite accurately date the stratigraphy.

Social History as Revealed by Gesture: Changing Eighteenth-Century Styles of Meeting and Greeting

Author(s): Penelope J. Corfield / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2018

This essay explores the significance of changing styles of interpersonal greetings in Britain in the long eighteenth century (from 1700 to the 1850s). Everyday rituals of hat honour, when men removed their hats and women curtseyed, were increasingly undertaken in a brisker and much less elaborate manner. Yet there was also change within change. A new alternative style of greeting was emerging in the form of the handshake. The urban, social, cultural, and class contexts of such changes are analyzed, pointing to multi-directional historical trends in the intimate rituals of everyday life.

Археологически резервати и археологически музеи in situ в България. Поява и историческо развитие

Author(s): Daniel Ivanov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2018

The interest in preserving the immovable heritage in Bulgaria emerges during the Revival period after starting searching and describing archaeological monuments. Moreover, in 1857 a collection of archaeological finds from Pliska and Preslav is established in city of Shoumen. During the next years, various archaeological collections are established. This stays as a prerequisite for creation of archaeological societies in Bulgaria. The first one appears in 1879 in city of Veliko Tarnovo, and during the following years such occure in some other cities in Bulgaria. These societies stay as the basis of preserving the archaeological remains and hence of creating archaeological reserves and museums.

Френската революция и новите идейни парадигми на модерността

Author(s): Dobromir Dobrev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2018

The paper discusses the reasons behind the rise of the French Revolution, as well as the processes that it unlocks in Europe. The various incarnations of the idea of nation, national sovereignty, and their relationship with the bloody conflicts in Europe are explicated.

Преплитане на преплетеното

Author(s): Ventzeslav Scholtze / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2018

“The Janissaries”. Entangled Histories in the Ottoman Context of the 19th Century by Nadezhda Alexandrova

Васил Левски и Българската православна църква

Author(s): Ivaylo Hristov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3-4/2017

The text of the article focuses on the relations between Vasil Levski and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The fact that Deacon Ignatius was excommunicated is part of the debate about the relationship between Levski, the church and the clergy. Its development is characterized by an interesting regularity: according to the political situation and the worldview of the authors, Levsky’s religious feelings are either muffled to emphasize his radical break with the church or vice versa, his Christian worldview is emphasized at the expense of his revolutionary image. A special place is devoted to the question of the possible „canonization“ of the Apostle – whether it is necessary and whether it would change his bright image of an undisputed political leader, but also of a person who never breaks with the moral norms of a cleric of the nineteenth century.

Защо и как Христо Гандев написа книгата си за Васил Левски?

Author(s): Lyubomila Solenkova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3-4/2017

We rarely find a document to show us the motivation with which a researcher sits to write a book. In the personal archive of Hristo Gandev, kept in the Central State Archives, a notebook is preserved, in which the Bulgarian historian wrote a short note on why and how he should write his study about the great Bulgarian revolutionary Vasil Levski. Here, this text is published for the first time and is delivered without abbreviations and in its authentic style, spelling and language.

Митрополитският храм „Св. Неделя“ в София 1820–1821 г.

Author(s): Nadya Manolova-Nikolova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3-4/2017

The article examines the history of the 1820–1821 rebuilding of the Orthodox church of St. Sunday, the seat of the Metropolitan in Sofia. The author uses information from the church chronicle as well as from a preserved document of the expenses made in connection with the construction. The analysis of the cost account shows that the construction took place in two stages: from the beginning of August until the end of September 1820 and from mid-November to the spring of 1821. A church was built, which for the most part was wooden. The documents allow the author to track not only the construction but also to highlight the conditions under which it was carried out, as well as to reveal the peculiarities of the very society which undertook the construction. The text of the construction bill is applied at the end of the article.

Варненското македонско/македоно-одринско дружество и националноосвободителното движение на българите в Oсманската империя (1895–1903)

Author(s): Slavi Slavov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3-4/2017

The activity of the Macedonian/Macedonian-Odrinian Society in Varna is part of the joint effort of the Bulgarians from the Principality of Bulgaria for the liberation of their compatriots who remained under Ottoman rule. Although located hundreds of kilometers from enslaved Macedonia, the Varna Society stands out as one of the most numerous and well-organized in the country. Its support for the revolutionary movement was mainly financial and material, but it was also directly involved in the liberation struggle sending revolutionists and arms to Macedonia and the Odrin region.

Христо M. Йонков – по случай 90-годишнината му (Био-библиографски чертици)

Author(s): Nikolay Zhechev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3-4/2017

Scholar's Jubilee

Pomník generála Gablenze v Trutnově jako místo paměti lokálního významu

Author(s): Tomáš Korbel / Language(s): Czech Issue: 1/2018

In this article, changes in the meanings attributed to and local relations with General Gablenz's memorial – a local monument and reminder of the 1866 Prussian-Austrian War – are observed over the period from its construction to the present. First, the role of the memorial in memory studies is presented (Nora’s concept of places of memory) in terms of its semiotic-content structures and three basic functions of festivities that establish its social significance. Second, the use of historical consciousness or local cultural memory is considered as a methodical concept for the study of this monument, which fulfilled a social role not at the national level, but only in the regional context within the collective memory of the local community. Third, the concept of local culture memory is applied and described from the point of view of various actors (subjects of memory places) of commemorative practices (military associations, city leaders, etc.) during the ceremonial inauguration of the monument in 1868, during the solemn deposition of General Gablenz’s relicts in the monument in 1905, and during the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the deposition of those relicts in 2005. It is obvious that the significance of this monument as a place of memory has been shaped by the local community, but at the same time it itself became an important source of identity for this society because of its ability to preserve his living memory.

Regionální identita jako základna konstrukce společné identity českých (československých) Němců ve vlastivědné produkci jizerskohorského regionu

Author(s): Jana Mezerová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 1/2018

The aim of this paper is to explore the transformation in the relationship of the German minority to the Frýdlant, Liberec and Jablonec regions in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, based on research into Heimatkunde (local culture and heritage studies). The paper picks out the way in which Heimatkunde was gradually appropriated by the nationalists, until it eventually became part of the “völkisch” trend. It was used to construct a shared identity amongst Sudetenlanders, as a political tool in the push for the minority’s autonomy. Regional identity developed into a platform from which the stereotyped elements that formed acceptable, effective points of identity for the entire German-speaking minority were drawn and gradually moulded, becoming the foundations for a common identity. Other modernisation processes also played a major role alongside nationalism: in particular industrialisation, urbanisation and the development of a civil society and self-government. From among the many areas that make up Heimatkunde which can be used to illustrate this process, I have chosen to focus in this paper on the relationship to the landscape. When one examines the physical aspects of the landscape, a clear progression can be observed in publications on Heimatkunde in which emphasis shifts from topographical descriptions to the use of local potential (industrial and also tourist potential). Against this backdrop, a stereotype emerged for the German minority of a hardy people who were able to prosper in harsh upland conditions through hard work and enterprise. The administrative aspect of Heimatkunde focused on the relationship between the periphery and the centre and on self-government, and was often linked with the issue of settlement. This led to increasing emphasis on the stereotype of the Sudetenlanders as bearers of culture and on the issue of the right of national ownership.

Failure of Waqfs to Adjust Rental Rates to Prices; Structural Impairment or Managerial Rigidity

Author(s): Kayhan Orbay / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2017

It is widely held view in the waqf studies that waqf institutions could not maintain their urban properties nor increase their rental income in line with price increases due to structural impairment and managerial rigidity. I argue in this paper that imperial waqfs did have ways of adapting and increasing their rent income. However, economic and commercial developments, disasters, external and coercive factors constricting the financial capacity of waqfs led to the loss of urban properties and income. Nevertheless, they devised the doublerenting method which enabled them to re-build and repair, thus maintaining the properties and creating further funds. Thus, the imperial waqfs coped with difficulties in the upkeep of properties and sustained their urban income well into to the Late Ottoman period. From the mid-19th century onwards, new institutions and regulations created impediments for waqfs; however, many imperial waqfs retained their properties into the twentieth century.

Evliyā Celebi’s Seyāḥatnāme as a Source for South Slavic Linguistics

Author(s): Slobodan Ilić / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2017

In autumn and winter 1660, accompanying his patron Melek Aḥmed Pasha in an expedition against the Venetian fortifications in northern Dalmatia, the Ottoman traveller Evliyā Celebi (d. 1684) toured Serbia, Bosnia and Dalmatian rocky hinterland, leaving a meticulous description of towns, fortresses, public buildings, and peoples of the region, including samples from the local languages. Assumed as being of no interest for general Turkish reader, these linguistic specimens have been for the most part left out in abbreviated printed editions, and consequently, in contemporary translations in western languages, including Serbian and Croatian. Using an Ottoman manuscript generally accepted as the archetype, if not even the autograph of the related fifth part of the work (Topkapı Sarayı, Bağdat Koşku 307), the author introduces Evliyā’s Seyāḥatnāme (Book of Travel) as a work of linguistic, next to undisputed historical and literary significance.

Antimus, Bishop of Vratsa and Lovech and Metropolitan of Belgrade

Author(s): Nedeljko V. Radosavljević / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2017

This paper presents the biography of Antimus, bishop of Vratsa and later bishop of Lovech, who became the Metropolitan of Belgrade in 1827. After the establishment of the Principality of Serbia in 1831 he moved to the Kingdom of Greece. This article explains his background, and describes advancing through church structures of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Attention is also focused on his appointment to be metropolitan of Belgrade, his arrival in Belgrade and working in the new environment. The strengthen Serbian national government and more open practice of the Orthodox faith created specific circumstances for his spiritual mission that are highlighted. His relationship with Prince Miloš Obrenović, which was much better than in the case of his predecessor, is also pointed out. The data on the last months he spent in the Principality of Serbia are presented. Terms and time of his departure to the Kingdom of Greece, where he spent the rest of his life, are also known.

Power and Society in Pleven on the Verge of Two Epochs: the Fate of the Mihaloğlu Family and its Pious Foundations (vakf) during the Transitional Period from Imperial to National Governance

Author(s): Maria Kiprovska / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2017

The end of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 and the subsequent decisions taken at the Berlin Congress of 1878 set the beginning of the state-building process of modern Bulgaria. The newly established nation-state quite naturally and purposefully sought an immediate emancipation from its political past and radical breaking with the inherited Ottoman institutions. This particular goal found direct reverberation in the consequent “de-Ottomanization” of Bulgaria during the process of homogenization of the Bulgarian nation. The Ottoman pious foundations (vakf) and their vast possessions, whose incomes provided for the maintenance and the functioning of the religious and other buildings, regarded by some as a direct implementation of the Ottoman imperial past, fall at the center of the state-building policies of the new Bulgarian state. The article examines one such particular charitable foundation, namely the vast vakf of the Mihaloğlu family in the region of Pleven, during the years after the establishment of the independent Bulgarian state and argues that it could be considered as an emblematic case elucidating aspects of the state-building ideology in the Bulgarian national politics in general and the uneasy process of decisive rupture with the imperial heritage that the new nation-state had to walk through in particular.

What Is the Political Legacy of Stephan Stambolov, How and Why Does It Have To Be Explored?

Author(s): Dmytro Mykolenko / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2017

The interest to the activity of Stefan Stambolov has increased significantly in contemporary Bulgaria. On the one hand it has been caused by insufficient study of some aspects of his policy. On the other hand, it is a result of socio-economic, political and moral crisis in the Bulgarian society after the events taken place in the late 1980s. Stambolov as a historical figure has become an important element of the national politics of memory. And it resulted in a growing interest of the researchers in his activities. However the negative effects of the policy could be deliberately concealed by scientists, journalists and writers in a favour of statesmen. The political legacy of each historical figure who marked the next step in a history of any country, is an important factor that influence a course of political, social, economic and cultural processes. Its study can significantly adjust the established notions about activities of a particular politician, its importance to the state-building processes. The subject of our study is a sophisticated phenomenon and its research requires a number of methodological techniques.

Demeter Gábor. Essays on Ottoman Modernization: Industrialization, Welfare, Military Reforms. Series Publications of the Bulgarian- Hungarian History Commission, Vol. 2. Sofia, 2017. 137 pp.

Author(s): Daniel Vatchkov / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2017

Book Review

Оръжието на революционерите в българските музеи като наследство

Author(s): Reneta Roshkeva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2018

The article discusses the weapons that are preserved until today in Bulgarian museums of the revolutionaries who participated in the struggles for political independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1867–1878. On the basis of observations made within the project “Traces of the Heroic Time,“ as well as of the experience with exhibitions dedicated to this topic, the article makes an overview of the weapons in Bulgarian museums that had belonged to participants in the national liberation struggles – of Georgi Rakovski, Vassil Levski, of the voevods Hadzhi Dimitar Assenov and Stefan Karadza, of Panayot Volov, of Petrana Obretenova, Rayna Popgeorguieva, etc.Raising the issues about the identification of the revolutionaries’ weapons and the interpretation of the facts around them, the author points out that these important artifacts for the construction of historical memory are insufficiently studied in Bulgaria. The article argues that – as materialized history, these weapons facilitate the heroization of the nationally important personalities. Regardless if being truly authentic or not, weapons – similarly to myths, are an important resource for construing the heroism of the national consolidation processes and for the creation and maintenance of the “big historical narratives.“

„Поздрави от ... Италия и България“ или за какво разказват пощенските картички

Author(s): Elka Mincheva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2018