TOPOI OF URBAN SPACE – TARNOVO IN THE 19TH CENTURY – Assist. Prof. Dr. Gergana Georgieva

I would like to trace the development of the urban space and urban structure – how it changed in different centuries and in different periods on the basis of mixture of Bulgarian, Western and Ottoman Turkish sources.

The confirmation of Tarnovo as important urban center became in the 12^th c., when it turned to capital of the Bulgarian kingdom. Its initial core was Tsarevets, Trapezitsa and the neighborhoods between them. After the Ottoman conquest, the medieval center was occupied by Muslim neighborhoods. The town developed and spread, from east to west. New quarters appeared and the core moved from Tsarevets to the so called Old town – mainly around the Konak – the seat of the Ottoman governor (nowadays known also as the National Assembly). In the 19^th c. there were 14 Muslim mahalles in Tarnovo with 872 households and 22 mosques in it and 10 non-Muslim mahalles with 12 churches.