DEVELOPMENT OF EARLY OTTOMAN ARCHITECTURE ON BULGARIAN TERRITORY. MAHMUD BEY’S IMARET IN IHTIMAN - Alexander Antonov

The present article focuses on one of the imarets in the Bulgarian lands – that of Mahmud Bey in Ihtiman. For the study of its establishment, development and architecture, Ottoman narratives and registers, documents of the National Institute for Immovable Cultural Heritage, and field research have been used. The main goal is to study the architectural characteristics of a forgotten piece of early Ottoman architecture, hardly researched so far, which marks the beginning of urbanization of today’s town of Ihtiman.
 

The imaret in Ihtiman belongs to early Ottoman architecture on the Bulgarian territory and shows both the continuity in construction techniques and decorations with the Balkan-Byzantine tradition, and the new architectural tendencies in the urbanization of conquered lands. The purpose of this newly constructed building was to appropriate for Islam a newly sprung settlement on the Diagonal road, strategically important for communication.

PEACE IN THE HOUSE OF JACOB. A Few Remarks on the Ideology of Two Biblical Themes in the Oration ‘On the Treaty with the Bulgarians’ – Assist. Prof. Dr. Kirił Marinow

Who were the Byzantines and the Bulgarians according to the Byzantine point of view? What did connect or divide them?

This paper studies the ideological background of the relationship between the Byzantines and the Bulgarians, their political, religious and, of course, everyday life. The way of life in which the peace was the basis of the human’s everyday life, and war was a disturbance, violence which destroyed the holy order of every time repeating circle of time, circle which guaranteed safeness.

We could called it – standards of coexistence (the basis of the relationships between these medieval societies, the way which would have to characterize their relations, would have to become their common way of living). From the sociological and anthropological point of view the abovementioned standards of coexistence between the Byzantines and Bulgarians would have to influence their everyday life in its whole spread too.

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.

TRADITIONAL POPULAR COSMETIC PRACTICES – HEALTH, HYGIENE OR STRIVING FOR BEAUTY - Assist. Prof. Iliyana Gancheva

The problem of traditional popular cosmetic practices is a multi-layered one. Without covering all its complexity, I will discuss those means, which traditional Bulgarians used in their quest for the coveted beauty, health and cleanliness. Despite the imposition of modern cosmetics and procedures, from the second half of the twentieth century to these days, many of them still find their applicability. Traditional popular cosmetics could be viewed from two perspectives – those related to the mythology of the Bulgarians, on the one hand, and on the other, those based on popular knowledge and experience invariably associated with traditional popular medicine.

 
If we have to make sexual differentiation, the indisputable fact is that women by all the observers of the life in villages and towns. The advantage of women, undoubtedly is due to their desire to be beautiful, to the care for maintaining long hair, and also to their greater cleanliness. In connection with male cosmetics, particular attention should be pay to shaving. Beard was a symbol was an essential element of Bulgarian popular mythology, as it was considered a very important attribute in making charms. For example, when shaving the groom special care was taken to gather all the hairs because they could be used for magic.

THE BREAD OF THE BULGARIANS IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ivan Lazarov

Wheat was the most widely spread and esteemed cereal not only in medieval Bulgaria but all over the Balkans as well. Byzantine, Venetian and Genoese documents from the 11^th – 14^th centuries give evidence that Bulgarian grain was exported through the Black Sea ports predominantly to Constantinople but Italian merchants traded Bulgarian wheat to more distant ends of Europe.

People used to start wars for wheat and it was considered strategic raw material.

Bread reaches the table after a long, hard and full of uncertainties labour. Bread is sacred and that is why it was considered a sin to throw away even the crumbs.

What was the bread of the Bulgarians like in the Middle Ages and how was it prepared?