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Ottoman historiography has focused on the construction activity of the Grand Vizier Köprülü Mehmed Pasha with reference to the castles he got built in Western Anatolia. Nevertheless, his endeavours to fortify the Black Sea coasts of the Ottoman Empire attracted less attention. This study seeks to describe and clarify Köprülü Mehmed Pasha’s defensive construction projects against Cossack naval raids in two separate zones of the Northern Black Sea: the Don and the Dnieper. This study relies on contemporary European reports, Ottoman archival material and related literature. It suggests that Köprülü Mehmed Pasha reinforced the protection of the Don estuary by commissioning the construction of a castle (Sedd-i İslam) on the one hand, and two self-standing towers on the other in 1660. As for the Dnieper, the pasha commanded the Doğangeçidi Castle’s construction in 1661, which was completed in 1662. Highlighting this dynamic building activity, the present essay suggests that Köprülü Mehmed Pasha’s invigoration of the northern frontiers of the Ottoman Empire should not be overshadowed by the conquests he is rather associated with.
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The origin and ethnogenesis of the (Proto-)Bulgarian tribes in the Early Middle Ages is a complex topic that has captured the imagination of many historians, medieval and modern alike. The present paper analyzes one relevant account from Bahjat al-tavârikh, a universal history in Persian composed in 1458 by the Ottoman scholar and diplomat Shukrullâh. This highly idiosyncratic but hitherto neglected account presents the Balkan Bulgarians (burjān, bulgatān) as descendants of the Sasanian shah Hormozd IV (r. 579 – 590) who allegedly spent some time in Byzantium (Rûm) while he was a prince. As Hormozd himself is said to have been born from the marriage of Khosrow I Anushirvan (r. 531 – 79) with the daughter of the khagan of the Turks, this legendary evidence seems to imply the mixed Turco-Iranian origin of the Bulgarians – a view shared by some modern researchers. The genesis of the account remains obscure, but contextual and historical analysis has shown that it was not invented by Shukrullâh, who only reproduced it from an unknown source probably dateable to the 8th – 11th centuries.
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The study summarises Czech and partially Polish texts on medieval and early modern rituals which have been written in the last three decades. The historiographical preoccupation with rituals and ceremonies is subject to criticism, or it is related to the developments in recent European historiography. We can conclude that both Czech and Polish historians primarily focused on the rituals of the monarchy, which they viewed from the perspective of the main actor, i.e., the king, and considered them a reflection of the political power. Contrary to anthropologists, who are interested in cultural meanings and categories, historians leaned more towards a socio-historical perspective. Descriptions, which partly result in the confirmation of the main actors’ positions of power and partly in an insight into the everyday life and material culture of the power elite, are prominent in the texts. The overall result is a rather reduced reception of anthropological perspective in the analysis of ritual. The current knowledge, essentially dependent on the quality of the existing sources, could be expanded by taking inspiration from spatial studies, e.g., methods developed in recent archaeology, as the conclusion of the study shows.
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The article comments the fortifications around the city of Sofia, built in the 19th century by the Ottoman and later by the Bulgarian administration after the Liberation. The historical reasons, the location and the shape of the fortifications are described. Their current state has been inspected. The possibility of being exhibited as historical heritage objects of the city of Sofia has been carried out.
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The medieval fortifications of Tsar Samuel in the valley of the Strumeshnitsa River were first identified by Bogdan Filov in 1916. The National Park-Museum “Samuil’s Fortress” construction is a wellplanned and executed project. The first step is the settlement of the site’s legal status. In 1965, comes the declaration of Samuil Fortress as an architectural and structural monument of culture of Antiquity and the Middle Ages with the category “of national importance” (State Gazette No. 32/1965) and according to §10 of the Cultural Heritage Act (State Gazette No. 19/13.03.2009, amended and supplemented) has the status of a registered single archaeological immovable cultural property with the category “of national importance.” The second step includes the archaeological investigations from 1968 to 1976, which proved the identity of the registered fortifications on the Samuil Fortress hill with those described in medieval sources. Unfortunately, no strategic plan for archaeological investigations has been drawn up, and consequently, the entire length of the rampart has yet to be investigated. As a result, the configuration, the authentic level, the main approach to the fortification, the construction of the fortification on the hill, and its relationship to the rest of the fortification system built between the mountains Belasitsa and Ograzhden are not completely clear. The third step in realizing the Samuil Fortress relates to constructing King Samuel’s and his warriors’ sculptural compositions. The sculptor, prof. Boris Gondov is the author, along with the architects Rositsa Gon- 164 dova and Evgenia Kashavelova. As a result, in the construction of the memorial composition at the foot of the Samuil Fortress hill, a harmonious synthesis between architectural, sculptural volumes and the natural setting, set against the backdrop of the Belasitsa and Oгражден mountains, was achieved. The fourth step relates to the work of the National Institute of Immoveable Cultural Heritage. In just three years, from 1980 to 1982, the institute developed a complex project for the conservation and exposure of the Samuil Fortress. Opened on 23.10.1982, the National Park-Museum “Samuil’s Fortress” is more a memorial, monumental-decorative, and artistic than an archaeological and historical view of Bulgarian history. It creates a significant gap in the exposition related to the importance of King Samuel and the Battle of the Kliuchka Gorge for Bulgarian history. Our joint project with Billa Bulgaria from 15.07.2020 allowed the use of possibilities for virtual exhibitions that do not require a physical display, have relatively low maintenance costs, and offer online access. During the project, the exhibition concept was significantly changed. Among the essential activities are the 16 holographic showcases and one holographic pyramid, a Plexiglas’s frame with graphics of the protective facilities and dugouts, and their interactive presentation, respectively, videos with subtitles in English.
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Over the past century, the capital’s district Kniazhevo offers an opportunity to glimpse not only into the coexistence of the different ethnic groups of the young state of Bulgaria but also into the coexistence of the religions – the tomb of Bali Effendi and the church of St. Elijah. Here, struggles for supremacy take place in order to add value to the world and understanding.
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In the municipality of Rudo, eleven mausoleums of various dimensions and shapes have been erected thus far. In Staro Rudo there are two mausoleums, and one each in Sokolovići, Donja Strmica, Bresnica, Obrvena, Barakovci (Strgačina), Prebidoli, Sjeverin, Ustibar, and Mioče. Nine of them were erected for males, and two of them were made for maidens. Four have been preserved to this day, two have been restored, and one newly erected. After the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina, the reconstruction of mosques began, also followed by the reconstruction of mausoleums. Among the reconstructed mausoleums, we should mention those in Staro Rudo and Mioče, as well as the construction of a new one erected in honour of civilian victims of war. Hopefully, this activity will be continued and other destroyed mausoleums in Rudo will be reconstructed. Furthermore, the service of a turbedar (mausoleum keeper) is documented in three mausoleums.
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This study aims to clarify numerous interdisciplinary problems that arise at the interface between arhаeo-astronomy and ancient Roman Urbanism. The general scheme of a Roman city as well as its concrete implementation in the new cities built during the territorial expansion of Ancient Rome is described. The author discusses in detail various situations where it is possible to make mistakes in interpreting the street system orientation of the Roman cities. Referred to are those weaknesses in the description and publication of archaeological sites that do not allow adequate and reliable archaeoastronomical analysis. All the published data about the street orientation in Roman cities in Bulgaria are collected and presented here for the first time. Several classical Roman cities in Bulgaria are commented that have inherited earlier Thracian or Roman settlements (Ulpia Escus, Serdica, Philipopol, Seuthopolis).
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The locality Stalpishte / Dikili-tash (Russe) presents a combination of natural and historical objects which have a noticeable cultural and touristic potential. The present study collects all the data concerning the historical monuments from the Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages including photographs and original descriptions. An interpretative analysis is proposed of two monuments in the locality Stalpishte / Dikili-tash: (1) a rock reflief of a horseman and (2) a cave sanctuary crowned with a rock-graved pediment. The figure of the horseman has a Thracian origin, but its rock-cut representations have been spread over the whole Thracian-Phrygian region in Roman times. The Thracian horseman is depicted on the reliefs in various compositions (the hunter-god Heros, the war-god Ares, the local king possessing a god-dignity etc.) but always in the frames of the thracian mythology infiltrated into Phrygia. The cave sanctuary with a rock-cut pediment is a more complicated object. Rock temples and graves are created in Thracia as well as in Phrygia. Pediments are also widely used in both regions. Pediments graved over rock (or cave) temples or over rock facades are a typically Phrygian phenomenon. In this sense the rock sanctuary in Stalpishte / Dikili-tash is unique on the Balkan peninsula, i.e. for the Thracian area, and it has been built possibly in Roman times under the influence of the Phrygian architecture. However, the pediment over the cave sanctuary in Stalpishte / Dikili-tash contains a typical Thracian element – four graved trapezoidal niches which are known in the East Rhodope Mountain (i.e. in Thrace) only. We can conclude that the monuments in Stalpishte / Dikili-tash (Russe) demonstrate in an very impressing and convincing way the cultural interactions between Thracia and Phrygia in Roman times.
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