The Dark Kingdom

Once Jeremy, a young and friendly Frenchman, told me that while at school, he thought of Bulgaria as some mysterious and dark kingdom... Since foreigners usually study much more about the Eastern Roman Empire in their medieval history classes, for him Bulgaria was some obscure but tempting place - much more like a sense, not a real knowledge. 

He told me this in late 2015 when he visited Bulgaria. We had some work together, as part of an international team, but we had several free days, so and I showed to him some magnificent locations - Perperikon, the ancient Thracian tomb in Alexandrovo, the Old town of Plovdiv, and my hometown Haskovo. 

So I have to admit, this sharing caught me, and I thought that if one day I make a vlog about the old Bulgarian mysteries and great stories, I'd  like to call it The Dark Kingdom. Sounds fascinating. Just like Bulgaria. 

A market day in 19th century Plovdiv

Plovdiv is one of the most beautiful Bulgarian cities. It is the biggest city of Thrace - a very ancient place, which proudly brings the heritage of several historical and cultural epochs, and preserves them up today. It was the Thracian Eumolpius, the Greek/Byzantine Philippopolis, the Roman Trimontium, the Slavic Puldun, the Turkish Filibe, and now Plovdiv...

The Czech-Bulgarian artist Ivan Mrkvicka left to us a nice painting of the old market in the late 19th century Plovdiv. His 1883 work "Plovdiv market" reveals a lot about the life of the population in and around the city.

Thanks to Mrkvicka we have an intriguing source of information about the social, demographic and cultural trends in the Bulgarian urban society in the end of the 19th century. Let's take a look at it!

People

Most of the people at the market follow the traditional Bulgarian peasant fashion. In the left side of the picture are depicted Bulgarian women selling birds and eggs. We recognize that they are Bulgarians by their clothing. They wear red or white cloths on their heads. Also they wear aprons, as in the foreground in the picture there is a lady with red apron and red cloth on her head. The clothes were not the only thing that brought the rural spirit. The whole economy was based on agriculture. Well, from today's point of view it is good that the people followed the principle "Buy local."

The man with a horse wears poturi (pants), poyas (wide red textile belt), elek (vest), and kalpak (hat). The broad leather disagi (saddlebags) on the horse serve to transport the purchases.

An adult Turk with a long beard, dark suit and red fez is squatting and probably asking about the price of the bird that he has chosen. Two Turkish boys with turbans carry birds, and one of them is showing something to the Bulgarian orthodox priest (the man in right with black cassock, kamelavkion and beard). This detail clearly represents the tolerance between the ethnic and religious communities in Plovdiv. The Turkish women are missing in the painting, which is quite interesting, because even the lack of something can be a subject of discussion. In this time among the Turkish community there was a custom that men and women can not be mixed in the public spaces. 

The young elegant lady with European clothes and hat in the right side of the painting represents the wind of change in the Bulgarian town. Just behind the man with a horse, we see the head of another lady with European-style hat. These two ladies are the only persons to belong to the more educated and prosperous class of the new Plovdiv's bourgeoisie. 

Еnvironment 

There are two minarets in the distance - they mark the presence of mosques built by the Ottomans. It was practical to build the religious temples in the centers near by the administrative and social buildings, like palaces, markets and public baths. The round building with a domed roof probably was a han (inn), where travelers and traders from far could rest. Behind the women, selling birds, there is a dyukyan (shop). 

The paved square shows that the market was in the center - the most affluent and wealthy part of the city. As for the public welfare, there were no street lighting, water supply and sanitation.  

The heights at the rear of the picture depict some of the famous 7 hills around which the city spreads. That is why Plovdiv was called The City of the Seven Hills. Cool, isn't it?

+ + + 

This was a short look at the life and the social structure of the people in Plovdiv in the 1880s. It's not enough to draw general conclusions, of course, but it's a good start for us to learn from the artifacts around us. 

The life in medieval Bulgaria, seen through the frescoes in three old orthodox churches

We don't know much about the life of the medieval Bulgarians, about their daily fashion, food, rituals, customs, folk songs and beliefs. Unfortunately, most of the written heritage was destroyed through the centuries, and the oral traditions gives us only fragmental and not systematized knowledge. 

But still there are ways to reconstruct parts of the lost heritage of the Bulgarian people in the Middle ages. I selected for you a short collection of frescoes that present some interesting features of the medieval life in our lands. The frescoes are taken from three different places in Western Bulgaria, and they are all drawn in 13th-14th centuries. 

Lets start with the wonderful 14th century paintings from the chapel in The Tower of Hrelyo in Rila monastery. The stone tower is 23 meter high. It was built by the powerful local feudal Hrelyo in 1334-35 to protect the monks. The last, fifth floor is a chapel with unique frescoes. The paintings present commoners' festivities: horo dancers, musicians, and a group of elders... 

Musicians from the chapel in the Tower of Hrelyo, 14th century.

The first fresco presents some of the instruments, used by the commoners for their holidays. A horn, an 8-string instrument similar to tambura, and another instrument (in the middle) which I can't recognize. Two of the musicians sit on small decorated stools. The weird thing is that the seats of the chairs are not horizontal, but inclined.  

A drummer, painted right
from the other players. 

Musician, painted left
from the other players.

Bulgarian horo dancers. 

There is something very interesting in this folk dance. The way people hold their hands over one another is unique and still in use today. And just like nowadays, the leader of the dance waves a piece of cloth.

The elders.

The frescoes from the Tower of Hrelyo show the clothing, the music instruments, and the dances of the common people in the middle of the 14th century, in the eve of the Ottoman conquest. The strange shoes are called navoi and were rolled around the feet like foot wrappings. The medieval Bulgarians wore trousers, that followed the shape of the feet. The main garment was the tunic, cinched perhaps with a belt or rope. Usually the tunics were decorated at their edges. 

The Tower of Hrelyo. In 1844
was built an additional bell tower. 
Photo: Wikipedia.  

Lets continue with the murals in the church of Zemen monastery. It has spectacular images from mid-14th century, representing Biblical scenes. But there is one particular painting that depicts the moment of forging the nails for the crucifixion of Christ. 

Medieval Bulgarian smithy.

This fresco from Zemen monastery's church represents a real medieval smithy. The characters in the scene with the sharing of the garments of Christ (below), are dressed in medieval style, too:

And finally, there are two great 13th century paintings from the glorious Boyana church near Sofia. The church was painted on the order of sebastocrator Kaloyan and his wife Desislava (below left) in 1259. One fresco depicts the donors, and another fresco depicts tzar Konstantin Tikh and tzaritza Irina (below right). Here they are - the spectacular clothes of the Bulgarian aristocrats from the Second Bulgarian Kingdom.

In my opinion Desislava was more cute than Irina, and better dressed. What do you think?