The 'Doubled-Sided' Chapel at Pyrga (Cyprus, 1421-1424).

Author(s): Vladimir Agrigoroaei / Language(s): English Issue: 6/2022

Après avoir reconfirmé la datation de Camille Enlart (vers 1421 ou 1421-1424) et identifié le comman-ditaire (l’évêque de Limassol Barthélemy Gui) dans une inscription fragmentaire, la présente étude explore: d’une part, les modèles des inscriptions en langue vernaculaire française de Pyrga (Chypre); d’autre part, la lo-gique du programme iconographique et le contexte culturel que sous-tend cette dernière. Dans la première par-tie, l’analyse des inscriptions de la chapelle prouve que le concepteur du décor peint a suivi un modèle manuscrit, sans doute un psautier avec un grand cycle d’enluminures. L’étude évoque trois termes de comparaison célè-bres: le Psautier de la reine Ingeburge (Chantilly, Bibliothèque du Musée Condé, 9 – tournant du xiiie siècle), le psautier de l’évêque Henri de Blois (Londres, British Library, Cotton Nero C iv – vers 1160) et le livre d’images de Marie de Rethel (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, n. acq. fr. 16251 – vers 1285). Dans la source manuscrite reconstituée, les inscriptions en ancien français étaient probablement transcrites en tant que tituli, d’après une typologie tripartite: noms de fêtes religieuses, groupes nominaux ayant une fonction analogue et légendes sous forme d’énoncés introduits par l’adverbe coument. La langue des inscriptions de Pyrga, un français d’Outremer, présente les traits particuliers des scriptae chypriotes de la fin du Moyen Âge. De plus, on constate que la déco-ration de la chapelle inscrit le monument de Pyrga dans la catégorie des chapelles royales de l’Europe occidentale (xive et xve siècles). Le transfert du codex à la paroi concerne non seulement les images, mais également les textes qui accompagnent ces dernières. L’auteur s’intéresse ensuite à la disposition symétrique de la décoration dans les deux travées de la chapelle, ainsi qu’à la manière dont cette disposition accentue l’Uniatisme catholique-orthodoxe. La logique dos-à-dos de la décoration émule celle des icônes à double face – termes de comparaison directs pour la chapelle – notamment leur choix d’apparier deux scènes : la Crucifixion / la Mère de Dieu. Le con-cepteur du décor peint souhaitait évoquer l’osmose de deux églises: une église latine, orientée vers l’Est; la sug-gestion d’une église byzantine, orientée vers l’Ouest. Cela explique le choix particulier de la décoration des voûtes (christologique pour la travée Est et mariale pour la travée Ouest), la double représentation de l’An-nonciation (pour marquer l’orientation des deux églises) et le choix d’une composition de type pala d’altare pour la paroi Est, tandis que la paroi Ouest imite la décoration des templons byzantins. L’osmose des deux églises est indiquée de manière encore plus claire par le choix de représenter les martyriums des saints Étienne (signifiant l’Orient) et Laurent (signifiant l’Occident) au-dessus des entrées latérales. Ce serait une allusion à l’osmose des corps de ces saints dans la Coniunctio corporum sanctorum Stephani et Laurentii (bhl 4784b). Après une réévaluation du texte fragmentaire (aujourd’hui perdu) de l’inscription dédicatoire, il est évident que la dédicace proprement dite concernait l’Assomption de la Vierge. Qui plus est, l’osmose Est-Ouest était de nou-veau indiquée par la représentation dans un même cadre de la Dormition de la Mère de Dieu (sujet à connotation byzantine) et du Couronnement de la Vierge (thème occidental par excellence). Les textes littéraires des xive et xve siècles confirment la fixation chypriote de l’appariement de la Mère de Dieu avec la Passion du Christ, de même que plusieurs autres choix de la décoration de Pyrga. La signification de la décoration devait être multiple, en rapport avec la triple utilité du bâtiment: chapelle funéraire (pour Barthélemy Gui), chapelle royale (pour le couple Janus de Lusignan-Charlotte de Bourbon) et point d’entrée au monastère de Stavrovouni, qui hébergeait des reliques de la Sainte Croix.

Royal Doors of Maramureș beyond their appearances.

Author(s): Alexandru Baboș / Language(s): English Issue: 6/2022

Dans les églises de rite byzantin, les ‘portes royales’ de l’iconostase se distinguent par leur richesse, leur étrangeté et leurs mystérieux ornements. Malgré le rôle décoratif essentiel qu’ils jouent, la finalité de ces traits caractéristiques demeure souvent obscure. Le manque d’explication cohérente devient ainsi l’un des défis scientifiques les plus stimulants à relever, afin d’en clarifier la signification. Étant donné que les recherches en ce sens sont encore absentes du panorama critique de l’histoire de l’art post-byzantin, mettre l’accent, dans une analyse du symbolisme des ‘portes royales’, sur une province lointaine telle que le Maramureș pourrait surprendre. La présente étude se propose toutefois d’interpréter la décoration des ‘portes royales’ au sein du cadre strict de l’espace rituel et culturel byzantin dans le territoire des Carpates du Nord à l’époque prémoderne, en s’appuyant, pour ce faire, sur des écrits religieux contemporains des objets étudiés. Puisque ces écrits, à travers les traductions en langue vernaculaire, ont influencé la culture populaire de la région, la décoration des ‘portes royales’ doit être interprétée en clé mariale. Aussi, tous les traits caractéristiques, les détails et les significations de ces portes illustrent la porte du ciel, attribut caractéristique de la Mère de Dieu dès l’incarnation du Christ. Il semblerait donc que le thème central en soit l’Annonciation. Ainsi, l’étude se propose de montrer la manière dont ce thème a été amplifié et diversifié sous forme de cycle iconographique composé de quatre parties, que l’on peut observer à la fois en peinture et en sculpture. Les sculptures témoignent d’un emploi particulier du langage métaphorique, exprimé d’une manière allégorique et emblématique, à travers laquelle les ‘portes royales’ sont transformées en pièces centrales et complexes de l’iconostase. Plusieurs prophéties concernant la Venue du Sauveur grâce à une vierge ont été choisies et représentées dans la sculpture des ‘portes royales’ de la région des Carpates du Nord, qui devient le centre d’un développement iconographique particulier. Sans doute, les disputes religieuses ont-elles façonné la culture spirituelle des croyants orthodoxes des Carpates, à l’époque turbulente de la pré-modernité. À cet égard, la rhétorique du langage artistique visuel se pose en miroir des témoignages apportés par les documents, les inscriptions et les collections folkloriques des communautés de rite byzantin. Situé à un carrefour de civilisations, l’art sacré de Maramureș contribue à une meilleure compréhension de la signification et de l’évolution de ces ‘portes royales’ à l’époque post-byzantine; mais il nourrit également l’étude de l’histoire de l’art européen dans son ensemble.

Museographic Objects, Saints, and Sacred Places: Saint Antony Pechersky, Esphigmenou Monastery (Mount Athos), and the Museum of Christian Antiquities (Athens).

Author(s): Katerina Seraïdari / Language(s): English Issue: 6/2022

L’article nous présente la manière dont trois histoires, avec des finalités très différentes, s’avèrent en réalité interconnectées. La première histoire est celle de saint Antoine Petchersky (xe-xie siècle), père du monachisme russe et fondateur de la Laure des Grottes de Kyïv; la deuxième concerne un monastère du Mont Athos, où ce saint aurait vécu pendant un certain temps au xie siècle; la troisième nous parle d’un objet qu’il aurait porté. La présente étude permet d’explorer la rivalité entre Grecs et Russes au Mont Athos dans la seconde moitié du xixe siècle. Elle permet également d’interroger la question des ‘faux’ objets et la pertinence culturelle de ces derniers.

Products of Russian Visual Culture in the Treasury of Rakovica Monastery in Belgrade (17th – 20th Centuries).

Author(s): Ivana Ženarju Rajović / Language(s): English Issue: 6/2022

L’article présente une série d’icônes et d’objets liturgiques provenant du trésor du monastère Rakovica à Belgrade, en Serbie. Plusieurs exemples, datant de différentes périodes, témoignent de l’influence culturelle russe sur le milieu local serbe. Le monastère possède six icônes peintes dans le Palais des Armures du Kremlin à Moscou vers la fin du xviie siècle. Ces icônes, qui comptent parmi les témoins conservés les plus anciens, nous renseignent sur les relations serbo-russes au sein de la vie religieuse de Belgrade. D’innombrables guerres ont jalonné l’existence du monastère Rakovica, ce qui explique que le trésor soit aujourd’hui relativement modeste. Il comprend, par exemple, quelques icônes russes des xixe et xxe siècles, principalement des artefacts produits en série, sans valeur artistique significative. Toutefois, les revêtements en argent de trois de ces icônes nécessitent une analyse approfondie. Aussi, le trésor comprend-il plusieurs livres liturgiques imprimés à Moscou ou dans la Laure des Grottes de Kyïv, de même que deux objets liturgiques.

Brief Scholarly Reflections on Ukraine.

Author(s): Kohut Halyna,Taisiya Leber,Waldemar Deluga,Svitlana Valeriyivna Olianina / Language(s): English Issue: 6/2022

LEGAL REGIME OF PROPERTY OF LAND IN ROMAN PROVINCES

Author(s): Stoyan P. Ivanov / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2022

The paper considers the specific problem of the land property outside Italy in the Roman provinces during the period of the late Roman Republic and the early Principate. The author studies how the Roman government faced the new problems that the conquest created and what Rome actually did when first met the Hellenistic concepts of the land property in the conquered territories and how they were applied or modified according to the traditional Roman law principles and regulations. It is emphasized that the need to organize the territory and to define the property of the people who lived on that territory or the rights which they had to the land for a very first time occurred in Sicily which the Romans organized as the first Roman provincia. The article examines the organization of Sicily according to Lex Hieronica, it considers the exemptions and immunities of some cities from the general legal regime of the province, and studies the collection of public revenues and the payments for the taxes for the exploitation of the land – vectigal et vectigalia publica. Key notions and terms like possessio, dominium, mancipatio, vectigal, vectigalia, tributum, stipendium are cleared and special attention is paid to the correct use of the Latin legal terminology. Some of the most important fragments from the Institutes of Gaius about the provincial property are examined and is made a carefully study of his language and the legal aspects of his consideration of the rights that the individuals had over the provincial lands. The research presents in details the organization of other provinces in the late Roman Republic and the early Principate and deals with the richest Roman province – Asia, which brings huge revenues to the Roman budget. Central part of the study is dedicated to the legal regime of the provincial land and the author considers the main opinions on this topic in the recent Roman legal doctrine and translates and analyzes the relevant classical Latin texts in the sources and provides an important bibliography on the problem, he tries also to define the Roman concept for „provincial property“ which for sure was not identical with the dominium ex iure Quiritium in Italy.

THE IMPACT OF COLLECTIVE MEMORY ON THAILAND’S INVOLVEMENT IN THE BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE

Author(s): Sanyarat Meesuwan / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2023

This study uses the theory of collective memory in international politics to examine the connection between collective memory and foreign policy to investigate why the Belt and Road Initiative has witnessed slow progress in Thailand. Qualitative data were gathered from various sources, including books, newspapers, journals, policy documents, and textbooks. The study concludes that cooperation between states is essential for achieving shared objectives but is contingent upon establishing mutual trust. Collective memories that one country maintains concerning another country can influence mutual understanding and trust, becoming ingrained even if the situation responsible for the memories changes or no longer exists. In the case of Thailand and China, the Thai government’s push for the high-speed rail project faced criticism and concerns due to the public’s deep-seated fears and distrust of China, the result of historical events and past experiences. This paper’s findings highlight the state’s role in creating collective memory and otherness, recognizing that external variables such as major power activities play a significant role.

Сръбското епическо пеене в съпровод на гусла между научната тема и нематериалното културно наследство: етномузикологична перспектива

Author(s): Danka Lajić-Mihajlović / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2022

The paper presents the experience and the results of а long-term research of Serbian epics, primarily of singing to the accompaniment of gusle – the most common and preferred form of performing epic songs. Studying the tradition and the personalities proves to be important for the ethnomusicological and interdisciplinary understanding of this genre. The focus on this solo performative genre makes the relations with the guslars (epic singers who accompany their singing with gusle – a one-string bowed instrument), as primary collaborators in the research, especially intensive and complex. In relation to that, the implementation of 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Serbia is recognized as an opportunity as well as an ethical obligation of ethnomusicologists to achieve reciprocity in cooperation with guslars by supporting the safeguarding of epic singing to the accompaniment of gusle. This type of cooperation has brought new challenges and encouraged deeper reflections on social, i.e. socio-cultural responsibility and its impact on national ethnomusicology. Linking research results with cultural practice is one of the distinct challenges in contemporary humanities, so this paper in a broader sense is a contribution to the applied humanities.

Управленската и съдебната практика на Милош Обренович – от историята до народната история

Author(s): Branko R. Zlatković / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2022

A large number of oral stories about Prince Miloš Obrenović (1780–1860) are preserved as an integral part of wider biographical, autobiographical, memoir, diary, historiographical, epistolary, travel and documentary sources. By identifying and separating anecdotes, historical legends, life stories and proverbs from the tissues of more elaborate narrative units, an extensive corpus is formed in which, through a series of narratives and variants, the narrated biography of Prince Miloš develops in the spheres of his military, political, diplomatic, social and private life. Given the fact that Prince Miloš appears as a very attractive and stimulating person for narrative shaping, the examples of his special administrative and judicial practice, which are characterized by elements of humorous, unusual, witty, but also arbitrary, unscrupulous and cruel treatment emerge as particularly interesting topics. He becomes a type to which are connected themes and motifs well known not only in the domestic tradition but also in the international narrative fund.

Разказите за пророчески сънища: към изследването на фолклорната култура на сънуване

Author(s): Smiljana Đorđević Belić / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2022

After a theoretical review of the studies of dreams in anthropologically oriented research, the author especially considers folkloristic studies of the dreams symbolism, as well as the dream stories as a genre. The second part of the paper is dedicated to the analysis of field narratives – the stories of prophetic dreams. The focus is on the problems of the interpretation logic, the way of fitting into the autobiographical experience, and the relationship between the individual conceptions of dreams symbolism and the traditional matrices.

Прогноза за времето: от епичния „край на света“ до апокалипсиса днес

Author(s): Lidija D. Delić / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2022

The paper examines the folklore understanding of weather conditions, archaic conceptualization of cataclysms and contemporary newspaper/internet articles on similar topics in a comparative context. It turns out that modern civilization inherits part of the rhetorical repository and imaginary of traditional cultures when it comes to meteorological phenomena, employing them in a new context in the already recognized global “discourse of fear/intimidation” (F. Furedi, D. Altheide, P. Cap). At the same time, this rhetorical identification is seductive insofar as all its parameters (the planet has warmed since pre-industrial times, glaciers are melting, sea levels have risen, a large percentage of forests emitting oxygen have been cut down, the ozone layer and ecosystem-regulating animal species vanish, humanity has increased enormously) speak that on a global level something dramatic is happening and that we are not just witnessing another of the great resurrections of history and its (mis)use.

Разомагьосване, повторно омагьосване и фолклорни жанрове

Author(s): Ana Vukmanović / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2022

Book Review: Disenchantment, Re-enchantment and Folklore Genres. Ed. by Nemanja Radulović, Smiljana Đorđević Belić. Belgrade: Institute for Literature and Arts, 2021. 286 pp. ISBN 978-86-7095-286-7

Празникът „Кюстендилска пролет“ и социалистическата празничност: Идеология и политики (Част 2)

Author(s): Svetla I. Kazalarska / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2022

The article analyzes the local holiday “Kyustendil Spring Day”, invented in the late 1960s, in the context of the socialist festivity policies by examining the ideological content inscribed in its semantics, symbols and rituals. The overarching research questions refer to the instrumentalization of the holiday by the socialist authorities and its functions in the local festive calendar. The analysis rests upon archival material, articles in the local press, photographs, and discussions and comments in the social media networks, as well as upon a limited number of interviews conducted by the author.

Категорията „смесен брак“ и държавната администрация в контекст на етническо прочистване: немците в България в края на Втората световна война

Author(s): Lyubomira Valcheva-Nundloll / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2022

The German population living in the Eastern European territories reached by the Red Army in 1944 was subjected to systematic cleansing. In Bulgaria, this process took place within an institutional framework and generated a substantial dialogue between the Soviet Control Commission, the Bulgarian State, and its German inhabitants. The study of this administrative dialogue reveals movements in the categorical repertoire created on institutional level in order to identify potential foreign enemies. Belonging of the so-called Germans to the national community was assessed through their religious, historical, social, or family affiliations. The heterogeneity of this population grouped from above reveals a strong social reality: the anti-German measures mainly affected individuals from mixed families, legally or ethnically related to the German world. This mixity appears to have been a problematic attribute for the ongoing administrative classification. The specificity of the category of intermarriage and its function multiplied the facets of this population and encompassed through the family institution the existing perceptions of what was an ‘enemy’ or a ‘friend’ of the new order. The classification of undesirable persons from mixed families generated unequal relations with the state, between locals and foreigners, between citizens and non-citizens, but also between women and men. By looking at the diversity of the studied group through the lens of identity representation analysis numerous questions related to the aspects of the complex social reality of the Bulgarian population at the end of World War II arise.

Етнологията в променящия се свят. Сборник в чест на 80-годишния юбилей на проф. д.ф.н. Радост Иванова. Съст. А. Лулева и кол. София: Издателство на БАН „Проф. Марин Дринов“, 2020

Author(s): Ekaterina Anastasova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2022

Book review

Нематериално културно наследство. Актуални проблеми. Съст. и н. ред. Мила Сантова, Валентина Ганева-Райчева, Ива Станоева, Миглена Иванова, Милена Любенова, Стела Ненова, Мирена Станева, Даниел Фокас. София: Издателство на БАН „Проф. М. Дринов“, 2021

Author(s): Petya Bankova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2022

Book review

Несигурност при преселване от язовирната чаша

Author(s): Petar Petrov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2022

The resettlement of the inhabitants of the village of Bara, Bulgaria, due to the construction of the ‘Aleksandar Stamboliyski’ Dam prolongs from 1942 to 1953. During this long period, social and economic life in the village is marked by uncertainty. A number of unpredictabilities, caused mainly by political and economic factors, hinder people from making informed choices and adequate decisions. My research interest is focused on the context that produced uncertainty and on resettlers’ worries. The reconstruction is based on archival documents dealing with the resettlement; they include also local complaints.

Цимлянското море в разказите на жителите на потопените (преселени) станици

Author(s): Olga Belova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2022

The article analyses the plot-motive content and genre structure of the oral narratives (memories) about the submerging of the Don stanitsi [stations] in connection with the construction of the Tsimlyansk Dam in the middle of the 20th century. The focal points of the narratives about submerging are: the loss of the ‘small homeland’ as a result of the catastrophe, the eschatological experiences, the miraculous ‘return’ of the submerged territories and objects (in visions and in reality, depending on natural phenomena). The narratives about the submerging from the Don region demonstrate a typological similarity with texts from other regions of the former USSR, which allows us to speak of a separately developed genre of modern verbal folklore.

„Язовир Йовковци е истинско богатство“: спомените на един хидростроец

Author(s): Lozanka Peycheva,Ventsislav Dimov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2022

This empirical study presents the results of a field research in the town of Elena and other settlements around the ‘Yovkovtsi’ Dam. The content presents fragments of an interview with Sava Kovachev, one of the hydro-builders of the ‘Yovkovtsi’ Dam. The proposed text includes our interlocutor’s memories about his first workday at the dam; brief descriptions of several submerged settlements (Yovkovtsi, Karadzhovtsi and Zingievtsi); an account of a particular case of resistance to the resettlement; memories of destroyed church, school and inn; evidences for the life of the dam builders with details about technological elements and processes of the construction, as well as for the everyday life of the builders; observations on the creation of landscapes for local dam tourism, developed by rediscovering and constructing a memory and a monument of Valchan Voivode above the ‘Yovkovtsi’ dam.

„Нашите преместени гробища“: концепцията за гробище в наративите за принудително преселване

Author(s): Iryna Koval-Fuchylo / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2022

In the narratives of migrants from submerged areas, four main concepts can be distinguished: home, land, church and cemetery. The article is devoted to the concept of a cemetery in the memories of forced resettlement from areas submerged during the construction of hydroelectric power plants in Ukraine. Excerpts from memories about the moving of cemeteries are presented. Folk beliefs, nominative vocabulary for events, places, characters, plots, persistent themes, and basic folklore plots are explored. The following main ideas are identified: it is not possible to move a cemetery entirely; disturbing the peace of the cemetery leads to dangerous consequences and provokes the wrath of the dead; the re-installation of grave crosses restores the sacredness of the graves, consolidates the resettled community and updates the memory of its historical past.