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Live north of the Balkans

The people who live north of the Balkans, and who cross the mountains every year, and go south to help to get in the harvest, always bury their valuables before starting; and when the war broke out last year in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the whole population of Bulgaria buried their money, jewels, and other valuables immediately, to be ready for the worst. A custom which is really an evidence of Turkish misrule, and nothing more, is impudently offered by the Turks as an exceptional thing, and as evidence of a regularly organized revolt.

The people assert, and I have no reason to doubt their word,, that until they heard of the massacres in other places, and saw from the hills above the town, the fires of other burning villages, there was no thought of insurrection or even of defence. When however, they saw these sinister tokens they immediately sent one of their head men to Philippopolis to the Governor, Aziz Pacha, to ask that some regular troops might be sent to protect them.

To the first application they received no answer ; and the next day they sent the same man back again to demand protection. This is not denied even by the Turks The only difference in the story as told by the Turks and Bulgarians is, that the former say that Aziz Pacha promised them protection, while the Bulgarians assert Guided Tours Turkey, in the most emphatic manner, that he wrote them a letter which was read to all the men of the village assembled together, telling them that he had no troops to send them, and that if they were attacked they must defend themselves.

But he advised them to remain quietly at home, not leave the village for a few days, and allow nobody from any other village to come there. They all maintain so stoutly that such a letter was written them by Aziz Pacha that I cannot doubt it. We could not find the letter, because the man who had brought it—the same who had gone to ask for protection— had been arrested upon returning to Philippopolis a third time upon the same mission, and thrown into prison. He told us one of the head men of the place had possession of the letter when arrested, and the Turks had of course seized it.

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Live north of the Balkans

The people who live north of the Balkans, and who cross the mountains every year, and go south to help to get in the harvest, always bury their valuables before starting; and when the war broke out last year in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the whole population of Bulgaria buried their money, jewels, and other valuables immediately, to be ready for the worst. A custom which is really an evidence of Turkish misrule, and nothing more, is impudently offered by the Turks as an exceptional thing, and as evidence of a regularly organized revolt.

The people assert, and I have no reason to doubt their word,, that until they heard of the massacres in other places, and saw from the hills above the town, the fires of other burning villages, there was no thought of insurrection or even of defence. When however, they saw these sinister tokens they immediately sent one of their head men to Philippopolis to the Governor, Aziz Pacha, to ask that some regular troops might be sent to protect them.

To the first application they received no answer ; and the next day they sent the same man back again to demand protection. This is not denied even by the Turks The only difference in the story as told by the Turks and Bulgarians is, that the former say that Aziz Pacha promised them protection, while the Bulgarians assert Guided Tours Turkey, in the most emphatic manner, that he wrote them a letter which was read to all the men of the village assembled together, telling them that he had no troops to send them, and that if they were attacked they must defend themselves.

But he advised them to remain quietly at home, not leave the village for a few days, and allow nobody from any other village to come there. They all maintain so stoutly that such a letter was written them by Aziz Pacha that I cannot doubt it. We could not find the letter, because the man who had brought it—the same who had gone to ask for protection— had been arrested upon returning to Philippopolis a third time upon the same mission, and thrown into prison. He told us one of the head men of the place had possession of the letter when arrested, and the Turks had of course seized it.

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Blackened by the burning

We looked into the church which had been blackened by the burning of the woodwork, but not destroyed, nor even much injured. It was a low building with a low roof, supported by heavy irregular arches, that as we looked in seemed scarcely high enough for a tall man to stand under. What we saw there was too frightful for more than a hasty glance.

An immense number of bodies had been partly burnt there and the charred and blackened remains, that seemed to fill it half way up to the low dark arches and make them lower and darker still, were lying in a state of putrefaction too frightful to look upon. I had never imagined anything so horrible. We all turned away sick and faint, and staggered out of the fearful pest house glad to get into the street again.

Skeletons of men

We walked about the place and saw the same things repeated over and over a hundred times. Skeletons of men with the clothing and flesh still hanging to and rotting together ; skulls of women, with the hair dragging in the dust, bones of children and of infants everywhere. Here they show us a house where twenty people were burned alive ; there another where a dozen girls had taken refuge, and been slaughtered to the last one, as their bones amply testified. Everywhere horrors upon horrors Istanbul Private Tours.

There were no dogs in the place, as they had all been driven away when the inhabitants began to return, and only hung around the outskirts of the village; but I saw one or two cats, fat and sleek, that sat complacently upon the walls and watched us with sleepy eyes.

It may be asked why the people who are in the village now do not bury these skeletons and these bones, instead of allowing them to be gnawed by the dogs and cats. Some of those who have been able to identify the bones of friends have made weak attempts at burying them. But they have no spades to dig graves with, and they are weak and starving.

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Failure of April Uprising

There were different reasons for the failure of the April Uprising. Some historians emphasize the weakness of the Bulgarian national bourgeoisie which was not capable of leading the national liberation movement. Others stress on the numerical and military superiority of the Turkish troops. But in a broad historical perspective the April Uprising should not be regarded as a failure. The “Bulgarian Question” was becoming a tough international problem. At that point of time the long-lasting endeavor of official Russia to do away with the Turkish presence in Europe, to expand the Russian influence in the Balkans and to lay its hands on the Straits objectively coincided with the liberation struggle of the Bulgarians.

The West European diplomacy also sprang to action. At the turn of 1876 the Constantinople diplomatic conference was held. It was attended by representatives of Russia, Great Britain, Austria-Hungary Holidays Bulgaria, Germany, France, Italy and Turkey. Now the last attempt at a peaceful settlement of the “Bulgarian Question” was the London Protocol – signed at the end of March 1877 by the diplomatic representatives of the six Great Powers in the English capital. But even then the Sublime Porte repudiated the demands for reform actions in the European area of the Empire. There was no more room or time for hesitation on the part of the Russian emperor Alexander II. On 22nd April 1877 he issued an imperial manifesto declaring the beginning of the War of Liberation…

A costly freedom

From June to the fall of1877 the Russian troops gradually unfolded their successful military operations divided into three columns. Along with the Russians fought thousands of Bulgarian volunteers. In the war against Turkey participated also other countries like Romania and Finland. After a series

of sieges the talented Russian General Totleben crushed the resistance of the surrounded Turkish garrison at Pleven and at the end of November 1877 it surrendered. General Gourko defeated the strong army of Suleiman Pasha positioned in South Bulgaria. Soon Sofia also fell. In a few months the

Turks were driven out if Plovdiv and the Rhodopes. As the road to Constantinople was already open the Sublime Porte pleaded for peace…

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Failure of April Uprising

There were different reasons for the failure of the April Uprising. Some historians emphasize the weakness of the Bulgarian national bourgeoisie which was not capable of leading the national liberation movement. Others stress on the numerical and military superiority of the Turkish troops. But in a broad historical perspective the April Uprising should not be regarded as a failure. The “Bulgarian Question” was becoming a tough international problem. At that point of time the long-lasting endeavor of official Russia to do away with the Turkish presence in Europe, to expand the Russian influence in the Balkans and to lay its hands on the Straits objectively coincided with the liberation struggle of the Bulgarians.

The West European diplomacy also sprang to action. At the turn of 1876 the Constantinople diplomatic conference was held. It was attended by representatives of Russia, Great Britain, Austria-Hungary Holidays Bulgaria, Germany, France, Italy and Turkey. Now the last attempt at a peaceful settlement of the “Bulgarian Question” was the London Protocol – signed at the end of March 1877 by the diplomatic representatives of the six Great Powers in the English capital. But even then the Sublime Porte repudiated the demands for reform actions in the European area of the Empire. There was no more room or time for hesitation on the part of the Russian emperor Alexander II. On 22nd April 1877 he issued an imperial manifesto declaring the beginning of the War of Liberation…

A costly freedom

From June to the fall of1877 the Russian troops gradually unfolded their successful military operations divided into three columns. Along with the Russians fought thousands of Bulgarian volunteers. In the war against Turkey participated also other countries like Romania and Finland. After a series

of sieges the talented Russian General Totleben crushed the resistance of the surrounded Turkish garrison at Pleven and at the end of November 1877 it surrendered. General Gourko defeated the strong army of Suleiman Pasha positioned in South Bulgaria. Soon Sofia also fell. In a few months the

Turks were driven out if Plovdiv and the Rhodopes. As the road to Constantinople was already open the Sublime Porte pleaded for peace…

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Alexander’s sarcophagus

The colouring has faded very much since the monument was unearthed. It is generally called Alexander’s sarcophagus, but it has not been possible as yet to decide whose remains it contained. Some aver that it enclosed the corpse of a Persian satrap who, after fighting hard for his country, at last deserted and went over to the Macedonian conqueror, who admitted him to his intimacy. One thing, however, is certain, namely, that this, which is one of the most important remaining monuments of Greek antiquity, is the work of an artist contemporary with Lysippus, who flourished towards the end of the fourth century B.c.

This sarcophagus, which is unique both as regards style and preservation, is modelled to represent an elongated Greek temple, with its friezes, pediments, etc.

Greeks and Persians

South Side.—The sculptures on this side represent a cavalry engagement between the Greeks and Persians at the battle of Issus, or Arbela. The Greeks are either nude, save for a light chlamys, or else are clad in armour, and wear variously the helmet and the Macedonian cap; while the Persians are dressed in trunk-hose and tunics with a short tight-sleeved cloak hung from the neck down their backs. The Greek horses are ridden barebacked with only a bit and bridle, and an occasional breast- band ; the Persian chargers, on the other hand, are richly caparisoned. The figures, at first sight, appear somewhat confusedly arranged, but a closer inspection reveals five distinct and symmetrical groups. The central one is formed of four figures—a Greek horseman ; a barbarian kneeling and holding his arms up as if asking quarter; a barbarian archer likewise on his knees ; and another towards the left, standing.

The two other groups, one on each side of the central one, are each composed of two figures; that on the right represents a hand-to-hand encounter between a Persian horseman and a Greek foot-soldier, and that on the left a combat between a Greek and Persian foot-soldier. Of the two remaining groups that on the left is of a Greek horseman with couched lance, charging a Persian who is struggling to get clear of his fallen charger; that towards the right is of a Persian horseman receiving a lance-thrust from a mounted Greek general, and, with hands still clutching the reins, falling into the arms of his attendant shield-bearer. On the ground are five symmetrically arranged figures of killed or wounded men.

Head.—The carvings here represent an incident of warfare, and are, like those just described, noted for their symmetrical grouping. In the centre is a Persian horseman about to spear a wounded Greek lying on the ground, and covering himself with his buckler; to the right and left, respectively, is a single – handed combat between a Greek and a Persian.

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Two parts Treasury

The Seraglio is divided nowadays in two parts —the Treasury, to which visitors are admitted by imperial warrant; and the Outer Grounds, in which are situated the Imperial College of Medicine, the Fine Arts School, the Museum of Antiquities, the Mint, and the Church of St. Irene. Between the entrance to the Treasury and the Church of St. Irene is an open square, called the Court of the Janissaries ; in its centre is an old plane-tree, called the Janissaries’ Plane-tree; it is said that on its branches the executioner in olden times was wont to hang those sentenced to death for treason or other crimes, and that under its cool shade many a mutiny of the Janissaries was hatched. The porphyri sarcophagi, bearing a cross, seen near the Church of St. Irene, are supposed to have held the mortal remains of Byzantine Emperors; they were discovered among the ruins of the Church of St. Minas, near St. Irene. Close by is Eudoxia’s Column, a broken obelisk, and a fragment of an enormous head of Medusa.

Admission to the Treasury.—The Treasury, or the Crown Jewels, is open on Sundays and Tuesdays from 6 to 9 o’clock, Turkish time. Visitors wishing to visit the Treasury have to get, at least one day before the above said days, a letter from their respective Embassies to the officials in the Foreign Office, whence another letter, written in Turkish, will be given to them to the officials of the Treasury. The issuing of the permit is free of charge private tour istanbul. And no gratuities are given to the innumerable attendants who closely surround visitors while they are in the Treasury proper.

Orta Kapou

Travellers who obtain the permit have to go to Orta Kapou, or Middle Gate, and show their permit to one of the guardians of this gate, who will conduct them through the Bab-i-Saadet to the inner section of the grounds, where they will be met by the Treasurer. Ortah Kapu, which is flanked by massive towers, is always guarded by soldiers, and none can pass the door without a permit. Within this gate is a court planted with trees, and in it are those dome buildings which excite the curiosity of foreigners approaching Constantinople from the Sea of Marmora, when the steamer rounds Seraglio Point.

A great part of the buildings with yellow chimneys, on the right on entering this court, are the palace kitchens; on the left is the dower-house, where the wives of the Sultan’s predecessors reside, closely guarded. These buildings are approached by the Bab-i-Sadet (Gate of Felicity), or Ah Aghalar Kayu (Gate of the White Eunuchs), guarded by white eunuchs ; here the accession of Sultans to the throne was formerly proclaimed.

Visitors are first conducted to the Treasury proper, the iron gate of which is solemnly opened in their presence by the Treasurer. The first room below contains a fine collection of old Turkish arms and armour; in the centre is an inlaid Persian throne, set with rubies and emeralds, captured by Sultan Selim I. in 1514, from the Shah of Persia, Ismael. Opposite the entrance, near a window, is the bronze statue of the late Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz on horseback ; the adjoining glass case contains the sword of Constantine Paleologus, the last Byzantine Emperor; and the left-hand glass cases contain sword-handles of emerald, vases filled with coral, and large unwrought pearls; besides costly embroidered counterpanes and saddles.

Visitors are next conducted upstairs; the most remarkable object to be seen here is the throne of Sultan Ahmed III., made of precious wood, inlaid with tortoise-shell, and set with turquoises and a large emerald, the whole an exquisite specimen of early Turkish art; in the glass case on the left is the chain-mail worn by Sultan Murad 1Y. at the taking of Bagdad in 1638.

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SEGMENTS OF A BELT

31. 6. SEGMENTS OF A BELT (?)

Odessos 6th century Gold, pearls, opal, green enamel 35,2 x 0,75 cm; 39,8 g Varna, Regional Museum of History,

32. PECTORAL CROSS – ENCOLPION

34. NECKLACE

A reconstruction 5th – 6th century Rock crystal, cornelian Tsarevets Hill, Veliko Tarnovo

35. TREASUREFROMAK-ALAN,TURKEY

Five belt appliques, 420 gold and 2 silver coins Byzantine workshop 7th century Gold 28,82 g total weight of the appliques; 22 carat gold Accidental find on March 1913, during the Balkan War, while digging trenches at the Chatal Tepe po-sitions, next to the village of Ak-alan, Turkey

The coins belong to Maurice Tiberius (582 – 602), Phokas (602 – 610), and Herakleios with his son Her-

akleios Constantine (610 – 641). Most probably the treasure was buried about the mid 7th century during one of the raids against Constantinople tour bulgaria.

Byzantium 10th -11th century

Silver 5,4 cm; l. of the rosette 0,013 cm

Discovered during the archaeological research of the administrative centre near the fortress of Per- perikon Kardzhali, Regional Museum of History,

37. MODEL OF A MATRIX FOR PRODUCING A METAL ICON WITH THE SCENE OF THE ANNUNCIATION

Constantinople? 12th – early 13th century Bronze 10,5 x 12,7 x 1 cm Provenance unknown Star a Zagora, Regional Museum of History,

38. MEDALLION FROM AN ICON

Byzantium First half of the 12th century Bone gold plated Diam. 2,8 cm; t. 0,2 cm

Discovered together with three more medallions from the same icon during archaeological research of the Medieval fortress of Assara near Zvezdel Mine, Kardzhali region Kardzhali, Regional Museum of History,

A round plate bearing the bust image of an angel in relief.

39. MEDALLION FROM AN ICON

Byzantium First half of the 12th century Bone, the gilding now damaged Diam. 2,8 cm; t. o,2 cm

Discovered in the Medieval fortress of Assara near Zvezdel Mine, Kardzhali region Kardzhali, Regional Museum of History,

A round plate bearing the bust image of a saint – warrior in relief.

40. MEDALLION FROM AN ICON

Byzantium

First half of the 12th century Bone gold plated Diam. 2,8 cm; t. 0,2 cm Discovered in the Medieval fortress of Assara near Zvezdel Mine, Kardzhali region Kardzhali, Regional Museum of History,

A round plate bearing the bust image of a saint – warrior in relief.

41. MEDALLION FROM AN ICON

Byzantium

First half of the 12th century Bone gold plated Diam. 2,8 cm; t. 0,2 cm Discovered in the Medieval fortress of Assara near Zvezdel Mine, Kardzhali region

A round plate bearing the bust image of Christ Pantokrator in relief.

42. PLATE Restored

Probably Corinth Second half of the 12th – early 13th century Ceramics, engobe H. 4,8 cm; diam. 24,4 cm

Discovered during archaeological research in Paleocastro area, Anhtalo, Burgas regton

Three animal figures engraved on the bottom – a horse, a running rabbit above it, and likely a similar figure below the horse’s legs. Coiling ivy (or wine) sprouts on both sides of the horse

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Slunchev Bryag

Nessebur (pop. 7,000), provides a striking contrast to Slunchev Bryag. It is a wonder-town, a fantasy come true, consisting of a rocky peninsula, some 900 yards long and 300 yards wide, jutting out into the sea, with lonely houses perched on it. A very narrow isthmus connects this island with the mainland. At night when it is all lit up, it resembles a floating ship, something out of this world.

Nessebur is now a museum town with fine old churches, the oldest of which were built in the 5 th and 6th centuries. Among them are the Old Metropolitan Church in the centre of the town. Its foundations and walls are still preserved; the Basilica near the shore is also worth seeing; the Church of St John the Baptist, built in the 10th century is entirely preserved. Its frescoes are from the 16th and 17th centuries, an archaeological museum is now housed in it. The Church of Stephan, 10th century, also known as the New Metropolitan Church has well preserved murals from 16th —17th century. The bishop’s throne and pulpit are decorated with wood- carvings.

Most churches are in the ‘pictorial style’ and were built in the 13 th-14th centuries such as the Church of St Theodore, of which only the northern and western facades are preserved city tours istanbul; the Church of St Paraskeva; the Church of Christ Panfokrator, in the centre of the town, comparatively well preserved; the Church of St John Aliturgetos, above the seaport.

In the town there is a permanent ethnographic exhibition of national costumes from the Bourgas area. It is held in the Mouskoyani House, built 1840 which is also the Head Office of the Nessebur Museums. TeL 34-94.

Hotel Messembria

Hotel Messembria, two stars, 24 beds and one suite, restaurant, bar, Rent-a-Car service. TeL 32-55.

About two kilometres west of Nessebur is the village of Aheioit chiefly known for the decisive battle which took place here on August 20, 917 between the Bulgarian troops of Tsar Simeon and the Byzantine troops led by Leo Foka in which the Byzantine troops suffered a defeat.

Some nine kilometres south of Aheloi is the town of Pomorie (pop. 12,000), situated on a narrow rocky peninsula. It was founded early in the 4th century B.C. under the name of Anhialo by emigrants from Apollonia (present-day Sozopol). All the wooden buildings were destroyed by fire in 1906. A small corner in National Revival style architecture has been preserved in the eastern part of the town next to the breakwater. Of particular interest is the burial mound near Pomorie. It is an early combination of the Thracian custom of beehive tombs and tumuli in the style of the Roman mausoleums. The tomb is fully restored and open to visitors. To the wsst of present-day Pomorie are the remains of an ancient settlement destroyed by the Avars in the 6th century. The sights include the Christ Church (1784) with valuable icons; the Monastery of St George (1856), whose wooden buildings are built round a quadrangle; Yavorov’s Rocks from where the Bulgarian poet, Peyu K. Yavorov, used to watch the sea.

Balkantourist hotels: Pomorie, two stars, overhangs the sea. It has 214 beds, two suites, restaurant, banqueting hall and night club Not far from the town is the Evropa camp site, two stars. Pomorie is well-known for its curative mud.

Balkantourist Bureau 49, N. Luskov Street.

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Shoumen is Preslav

19 km south of Shoumen is Preslav (pop. 14,000) and a further 2 km south are the ruins of Veliki Preslav. During the reign of Tsar Simeon (893-927) the town was for a short time an important cultural and trade centre. It fell under Byzantine domination from 971-976 and from 1001-1187, In 1388 it was seized by Ottoman invaders and destroyed. It was rebuilt in the 16th-19th century north of the ruins and was called Eski Stamboul (the old capital). So far some 2 000 metres of fortress walls have been discovered.

Most of the remains have been uncovered including north and south gates, towers, palace compound, monasteries, workshops as well as two monasteries, several churches, cottages and other buildings from the 9th-10th century. In 1978 near the ruins of the palace compound, gold treasure was discovered comprising a necklace, rings, etc., the work of local masters.

Ten kilometres east of Shoumen, near the village of Mut- nitsa is the Madara National Historical and Archaeological Reserve with its magnificent bas-relief, cut into the rock of the ancient Madara fortress of a horseman followed by a dog and a lion pierced by a spear. The inscription beneath dates from the reign of Khan Omourtag (816-831). The Madara Horseman is one of four sites in Bulgaria (the Kazanluk Thracian Tomb, Boyana Church and Ivanovo rock churches near Rousse) to be included in UNESCO’s World List.

On the terrace below the relief are ruins of buildings from different eras — palaces, a Proto-Bulgarian heathen shrine (9th century), churches and monasteries from the late Middle Ages. Stairs cut into the rock lead to the Madara plateau and fortress, used until the Ottoman invasions. To the southwest, at the foot of the plateau, are remains of Roman houses and farm buildings.

10 km along the main E-70 road is Kaspichan and 6 km from there the ruins of the first Bulgarian capital of Pliska. The town was founded after the establishment of the Bulgarian state. In 811 it was plundered and burnt by troops of the Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus I. It was restored during the reign of the Bulgarian Khan Omourtag. After Pres lav was declared capital of Bulgaria in 893, Pliska retained its role as a major centre. In 1001 it was again seized by the Byzantines. The town fell into decay after the invasions of the Pechenegs and other tribes.

Pliska

Pliska covered an area of 23 sq km and was planned with a concentric fortification system. The town had two belts of fortifications: a rampart with moat and fortress walls with mo-numental gates and guard towers. Between the two fortification systems were the dwellings of the common people and many churches, while the houses of the boyars, temples and palaces were in the inner town sofia guided tours.

Some 1.5 km from the Eastern gate in the outer town are the ruins of the Great Hasilica. A tomb was discovered here in 1978 containing gold jewellery, probably the work of local masters.

4 km away along E-7Q is the town of Novi Pazar (pop. 17,0) which has glass, porcelain and glazed earthenWare in-dustries. A mediaeval necropolis was unearthed near the town.

Hanski Stan Motel, one star, petrol station.

40 km further on is the Iaige industrial centre ofDevnya (pop. 15,500). Here, during the reign of Emperor Trajanus (98-117) the Roman town of Martianopolis was founded near the Karst springs.

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ARCHITECTURE

Bulgaria has architectural monuments from the Thracian period (settlement, tombs, fortress walls), from the Ancient Greece (a settlement along the Black Sea coast — Messemvria — present day Nessebur), from the Odessa (Varna), from Ap- polonia (Sozopol); from the Roman Empire — Escus (now the village of Tigel), Nikopolis ad Istrum (village ofNukyup), Ab- ritus (Razgrad), Trimontium (Plovdiv). The greatest medieval structures are in Pliska, Veliki Preslav, Tumovgrad, and Boya- na. National Revival buildings of some note are in Rila, Bach- kovo, Troyan, Plovdiv, Kotel, Tryavna, Koprivshtitsa, Zheravna. Of special interest are the buildings by the master builder Kolyu Ficheto (bridge near the village of By ala, Trinity Church in Svishtov, Nikoli Inn at Veliko Turnovo). More recent architecture can be seen in the buildings of the National Assembly, Ivan Vazov National Theatre, the mineral baths building, market hall and the National Museum in Sofia, theatres in Rousse and Varna, etc. Many public buildings, theatres and stadiums have been built in recent years, all pointing to a very high standard of imagination and inspired functionalism.

MUSIC

From earliest times songs recounting actual events have been handed down from generation to generation. Yoan fcoukouzel, the Angel-voiced, was an important composer in the 14th century. From modem Bulgarian composers as Manolov, Dobri Hristov, Petko Stainov, Pancho Vladigerov should be mentioned. Bulgarian choral works, operas and instrumental music have gained popularity on a world scale daily tours istanbul. Many Bulgarian opera singers perform in the greatest opera houses of the world.

THEATRE

The first theatres in Bulgaria were founded during the Ottoman domination (mid 19th century) and starred as amateur ensembles. Professional theatre dates from 1892 when the Suiza i Smyah Drama Company was established, it became the National Theatre in 1904.

AMATEUR ART

A wealth of folk songs and dances is kept alive in every town and village in Bulgaria. Folk art is an essential ingredient of life in Bulgaria.

CINEMA

Although films were produced in Bulgaria prior to 1944, Bulgarian film has developed greatly only post 1945.

They are the original Bulgarian teaching institutions which played a prominent part in preserving national traditions and the identity of the Bulgarian people during the Ottoman domination. The first theatrical performances, the first public libraries, the first choirs and orchestras originated in these dubs. Many of them have valuable collections, art galleries, radio and film clubs, photography, literature and drama circles and schools for foreign languages, music and ballet.

Physical Education and Sport. In recent years, sport has gained popularity in all walks of life and among the young in particular. The National Spartakiades are very popular and enlist the participation of thousands. Bulgarian sportsmen and women have been particularly successful In rhythmic gymnastics, wrestling, weightlifting, track and field events (women), basketball and volleyball.

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Previously established plan

The city was built after a previously established plan. Two gates, well defended — one by bastions, led to the centre of the city from the north and the west. Two principal streets led to it, intersecting at right angles at the city square (agora). The remaining streets ran parallel to the main thoroughfares, and were consequently perpendicular to each other. The houses are most interesting as regards plan. They usually have many rooms arranged around a central court. Some of the houses were two-storeyed and had balconies supported by wooden columns.

Among other features, the pastas type of house, the predecessor of the Greek peristyle house, is also found here. Water was supplied by wells. Nor was a drainage system lacking, as both domestic and city drains are found. The ruler’s residence was the most important building, with a 40 m. front; it was a two-storey building, richly decorated and possessing among others, a vast chamber, decorated with incrustations in many colours. Many coins were found in the city — Thracian, Macedonian and so on. Trade and the crafts were well developed here. The population outside the town was mainly occupied with farming, cattle raising and fishing. Many objects were found in Seutho- polis, especially vessels, mainly pottery both locally made and imported. Oil and wine were imported from the Island of Thasos, as evidenced by the numerous Thasian amphora-stamps.

Seuthopolis, founded by Seuthes III , the Thracian ruler, contemporary of Alexander the Great and Lysimachus, only existed up to the end of the 3rd century travel bulgaria , when it was burnt down and destroyed.

History of Thrace

The 3rd century was a most stormy period in the history of Thrace. The wars of the Diadochi and the Epigoni more than once affected the Thracian lands to the South along the coast. Here, the Seleucids, the Ptolomids and the Macedonians all contended for supremacy with the Attalids. To these wars were added the invasions of the Celts, who maintained themselves in Thrace for about 60 years, where they founded a state of their own.

Its last ruler (Cavarus) minted bronze and silver coins, established relations with the Greek colonies and interfered with their relations, as was the case with Byzantium, for instance. Other objects of Celtish origin besides the coins of Cavarus are found in the Bulgarian lands. The capital of their kingdom, Tyls, has not yet been discovered. Certain tumuli are attributed to the Celts, but they are absolutely poor. One of the most beautiful finds discovered so far and certainly of Celtic origin, is a gold torque of considerable size found at the village of Archar, Vidin district.

At the end of the 3rd century B. C. the Roman state appeared in the Western part of the Mediterranean as a new world power, and after defeating Carthage, its most dangerous rival, it intervened in the relations of the Hellenic states in the east. The Balkan Peninsula, with its fertile plains and natural wealth, with its freedom-loving and militant peoples and tribes, stood in their way.

The struggle between Rome and the Balkan peoples lasted for over two centuries until the peninsula was conquered. The Thracians were the last to lay down their arms. The highly developed military technique and organization of the Romans got the better of the bravery and self-denial of the Thracians. Out of their lands were formed the two Balkan provinces of Moesia, about 15 A. D., and Thrace about 46 A. D. An extremely numerous army was placed in the Roman camps and fortresses, mainly along the Danube. It was ready to appear at any threatened spot, moving rapidly along the newly made roads, and to crush any attempt at an uprising on the part of the subjected peoples.

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TROYAN MONASTERY

It is situated in the folds of the Balkan Range, some 12 km from the town of Troyan. It was built in the year 1840. The frescoes in its church were painted by the best icon-painters of the Samokov School, including Zahari Zograph. Tourist accommodation is available in the monastery.

ALADJA MONASTERY

It stands 14 km northeast of Varna and 3 km west of the Zlatni Pyassatsi resort complex, in one of the most picturesque areas of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. It is an old monastery carved out of the rocks, consisting of an upper and a lower part. The cells are two and a half metres wide and two metres deep. The length of the church is 11.70 m and its width – 5 m. It is barely 2 m high. On the eastern wall is the altar, in which there are two niches with the comparatively best-preserved mural paintings. Although poorly preserved in general, the murals of the monastery reveal a remarkable development of mediaeval pictorial art. The monastery was most probably founded in the 13th-14th century private tour guide ephesus. 300 m from the monastery are the catacombs – rooms carved out of the rock which were probably used by the monks as dwellings.

The monastery can be reached from Zlatni Pyassatsi on foot along a forest path, or by bus along a panoramic road. From there the road goes on to Varna via Vinitsa village. There are souvenir shops and pavilions for snacks and drinks as well as a fountain.

ZEMEN MONASTERY

It is situated 25 km from Kyustendil on the railway line to Sofia, and is well known for its fine mural paintings dating from the middle of the 14th century. They are very well preserved and among the frescoes which are portraits of contemporaries are those of Deyan, a feudal lord of Kyustendil, and of his wife Doya, patrons of the monastery.

One can travel to the monastery by train as well as by car from Kyustendil or Sofia.

BOYANA CHURCH

At the foot of Mount Vitosha and 10 km from Sofia, stands a unique monument of Bulgarian art — the small Boyana Church, built in the 11th and 13th centuries. Exceptional mural paintings have been preserved in it in an excellent condition. The, unknown Boyana master has succeeded in expressing character traits on the faces of more than 300 large and small human figures, harmoniously distributed in two small compartments. He went beyond the conventionality of the period and became a precursor of the European Renaissance.

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Unbroken evolution of human civilisation

There is something alien to the true historic spirit in any race jealousy and ethnological partisanship. History is the unbroken evolution of human civilisation; and the true historians are they who can show us the unity and the sequence of the vast and complex drama. Theories of race are of all speculations the most cloudy and the most misleading.

And to few nations are they less applicable than to England. Our ethnology, our language, our history are as mixed and complex as any of which records exist. Our nationality is as vigorous and as definite as any in the world; but it is a geographical and a political nationality; and not a tribal or linguistic nationality. To unwind again the intricate strands which have been wrought into our English unity, and to range them in classes is a futile task. If we exaggerate the power of one particular element of the English race, one source of the English people, one side of English institutions, one contributory to the English language, we shall find it a poor equipment for historical judgment.

Professor Clifford

Race prejudices are at all times anti-historic. Professor Clifford used to talk about morality as an evolution of the ‘ tribal ’ conscience. Assuredly confusion is the only possible evolution for a ‘tribal ’ history. The Carlylese school, and the Orientalists turkey sightseeing, and the Dentsch and Jutish enthusiasts, bid fair to turn our language and its literature into an ungainly polyglott. Their pages bristle with Bretwaldas and Heretogas, Bnrhs and Mitnds, Folkfriths and Tungere- fas; or with Reicks, Kurffirsts, Pfalzes, and Kaisers.

All this is very well in glossaries, but not in literature. How absurd it is to write — ‘ The Kurfiirst of Koln or ‘ The Ealdorman of the Hwiccas ! ’ It is as if one wrote — ‘The Due of Broglie was once Ministre of the Affaires Etranghes ’; or that ‘ Wellington defeated the Empireur Napolion and all his Mardchauxjust as they do in a lady’s-maid’s high-polite novel. Why are Deutsch and Jutish titles to be introduced any more than French or Spanish? In glossaries they are useful; but histories of England should be written in English. And it is pleasant to turn to a great book of history, like that of Bishop Stubbs; where, in spite of the temptations and often of the necessities of a specialist dealing with a technical subject, the text is not needlessly deformed with obsolete, grotesque, and foreign words.

A wide range of ethnology and philology shows us that these origins and primitive tongues were themselves the issue of others before them, and are only a phase in the long evolution of history and language. These Engles, and Saxons, and Jutes, these Norse and Welsh, had far distant seats, and far earlier modes of speech. They were no more ‘Autochthones’ in the forests of Upper Germany than they were in Wessex and Caint.

Their speech has been traced back to Aryan roots current in Asia. And there, by the latest glimmerings of ethnographic science, we lose all these Cymric, and British, and Teutonic tribes in some (not definable) affinity, in some (not ascertainable) district of Central Asia, with some (not recoverable) common tongue of their own. So that these war cries about the White Horse, and Engles, and Jutes, turn out to mean simply that a very industrious school of historians choose to direct their attention to one particular phase of a movement which is in perpetual flux; and which, in time, in place, and in speech, can be traced back to very distant embryos in the infinite night of conjecture.

It is treason to our country and to scientific history to write, as Mr. Greene ventured to do in his fine and elaborate Making of England, that ‘ with the landing of Hen- gest English history begins.’ The history of England is something more than the tribal records of the Engles. The history of England began with the first authentic story of organised communities of men living in this island: and that most certainly existed since Caesar narrated his own campaigns in Britain.

The history of England, or the history of France, is the consecutive record of the political communities of men dwelling in the lands now called England and France. The really great problem for history is the assimilation of race and the . co-operation of alien forces. And so, too, the note of true literature lies in a loyal submission to the traditions of our composite tongue, and respect for an instrument which is hallowed by the custom of so many masterpieces. Loyal respect for that glorious speech would teach us to be slow how we desecrate its familiar names with brand- new archaisms; how we ruffle its easy flow with alien cacophonies and solecisms, and deform its familiar topog-raphy with hieroglyphic phonograms.

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London defies adaptation and adjustment

Size and numbers are not necessarily bad things per se. But unhappily the size and numbers of London have alarming consequences of their own. Great cities have to grow organically, with some kind of self-adaptation to their development. But the increase of London defies adaptation and adjustment. The 70,000 new souls a year arrive before London has time to consider what she can do with them. The bricks pour down in irregular heaps, almost as if, in some cataclysm or tornado, it were raining bricks out of heaven on the earth below. The huge pall of smoke gets denser and more sulphurous, stretching out, they say, some thirty miles into the country, till Berkshire, Bycks, Herts, and Kent are beginning to be polluted by its cloud. From Charing Cross or the Royal Exchange a man has to walk some five or six miles before he can see the blessed meadows or breathe the country air. Few of us ever saw more than half of the city we live in, and some of us never saw nine-tenths of it. We all live more or less in soot and fog, in smoky, dusty, contaminated air, in which trees will no longer grow to full size, and the sulphurous vapour of which eats away the surface of stone.

Our once silver Thames

The beautiful river — our once silver Thames — is a turbid, muddy receptacle of refuse; at times indescribably nasty and unwholesome. The water we drink at times comes perilously near to be injurious to health. Our burying-places, old and new, are a perpetual anxiety and danger. Our sewers pour forth 5,500,0 tons of sewage per week, almost all of it waste- fully and dangerously discharged. An immense proportion of our working population are insufficiently housed, in cheerless, comfortless, and even unhealthy lodgings. Not a few of these are miserable dens or squalid cabins unfit for human dwelling-place sightseeing turkey. Every few years some epidemic breaks out which carries off its thousands. In some four- fifths of London the conditions of life are sadly depressing and sordid, with none of the advantages which city life affords. The amusements, such as they are, are often unworthy of us; the resources of health and recreation are too few; whilst the dangers to life, to morality, to the intelligence, are very real and ever present.

Is this monster city again to double and treble itself? its water supply to get still more precarious and defective, are its dead still more to endanger the living, its dreariness to grow vaster, and its smoke even thicker? It is a strange paradox that, whilst those who have the means are always seeking to get away from London, those who are destitute are perpetually pouring into London; whilst it is the ambition of every well-to-do Londoner to retire to freedom in the country or in the suburbs, it is the instinct of every countryman in distress to find his way up to London.

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Continuity of the Roman Empire

What we want is a term which will describe the continuity of the Roman Empire, after its seat had been per-manently removed to the Bosphorus, and yet distinguish it from the revived Empire of Charles, the Holy Roman Empire, and all other powers which claimed a title from Rome. The features to be connoted are the prolongation and evolution of the vast political organism of Augustus and Trajan, its unbroken continuity, at any rate, down to the thirteenth century, and the dominant material fact that its permanent centre of government was transferred to the Bosphorus: that it had become Christian, but not Catholic.

We go wrong if we drop the title ‘Roman’; we go wrong if we ignore the fact of the transfer of sovereignty to Constantinople; we go wrong if we fail to mark how much this implied, both in the spiritual and the political sphere. Under the conditions, the proper title is, ‘The Roman Empire at Constantinople.’ This is strictly accurate and fairly complete ephesus daily tour. It denotes the whole period of eleven centuries which separates the first Constantine from the last. It is impossible to suppose it applied either to Romulus Augustulus, Charlemagne, or Otto. And it defines the unbroken continuity of government from its permanent seat on the Bosphorus. A simpler equivalent would be — the Empire of New Rome.

The next problem is to group the epochs of this immense succession of eleven centuries; to show their diversity in the midst of continuity; to distinguish the true periods of greatness and of growth, and the real eras of corruption and decay. Unfortunately this is what Gibbon has omitted to do, what he has even done not a little to make difficult. Of his eight octavo volumes five are devoted to the history of about five centuries, and three only are given to the remaining eight centuries. He himself was struck with the apparent paradox, which he seems to excuse (at the opening of his 48th chapter) by his own and the reader’s fatigue in the melancholy task of recording the annals of the Eastern Empire.

Deacon and Nicetas

The genius of the greatest of historians has been betrayed into no error more capital than that which led him to describe the annals of the Empire from Heraclius to the last Constantine as ‘a tedious and uniform tale of weakness and misery.’ Gibbon, it is plain, was partly misled by the dearth of writings, and partly overwhelmed by the enormous scale of his ever-enlarging survey. But with all that we now have at hand, it is wonderful to think that he was ever tempted to abandon ‘the Greek slaves and their servile historians.’ If this is a description of the Iconoclasts and the Basils, Leo the Deacon and Nicetas, language must have a new meaning. In truth, ‘a tedious tale of weakness ’ would be as aptly applied to the lives of William the Conqueror and the Plantagenet kings as to the exploits and adventures of Leo in., Constantine v., the two Basils, Nlcephorus Phocas, John Zimisces, Kalo- Joannes, and Manuel.

Even in the matter of literary culture and pure Greek, we are apt to compare the Byzantine historians with classical or with our modern authors. Clearly we ought to compare them with their contemporaries in Europe. The iambics in which George of Pisidia celebrated the exploits of Heraclius, or those in which the Deacon Theodosius sang the recovery of Crete by Nicephorus Phocas, are not classical, but rather frigid as poetry; yet they are far less barbarous than any Latin poetry of the seventh and tenth centuries.

The Greek of Leo the Deacon in the tenth century does not differ from Xenophon’s, from whom he is separated by more than thirteen centuries, so much as the English of Langland differs from that of Milton. The prolongation of the Greek language over 2800 years from Homer to Tricoupi, its continual epochs of revival, purification, and ultimate return upon its own classical type, are among the most extraordinary facts in the evolution of human thought. And the persistence of the same written literature at Constantinople for at least twenty centuries is without parallel, at least in Europe.

Happily our most recent historians are in the main agreed as to the essential epochs and the true heroes of Byzantine history. It is agreed that from the age of Justinian to the Crusades the traditions of law, administration, Greek literature, commerce, and artistic manufactures were mainly preserved to Europe by the Roman Empire of the Bosphorus. It is agreed that for all active ends the Empire was extinguished by the Fourth Crusade, and had long been in an exhausted condition even at the opening of the First Crusade. The Isaurian and Basilian dynasties, that is the eighth, ninth, tenth, and part of the eleventh centuries, were epochs on the whole of valour, able government, prosperity, and civilisation, if compared with the condition of what used to be called the dark ages of Europe.

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Multiplicity and height of the mountains

Thus from every point of view, Greece is not so much a country as a vast mountain chain half submerged in the sea. And owing to the multiplicity and height of the mountains, the small area in which they are concentrated, the singular transparency of the air, and the degree to which the land is indented and intersected by sea, Greece appears to be strangely small,—even smaller than it really is. It is hardly anywhere more than two hundred miles deep, or one hundred miles broad. So that from almost any elevated point, the greater part of Greece can be seen at once. Attica, the Peloponnesus, the Eastern islands, the mountains of Boeotia, Argolis, Arcadia and Euboea, are all to be seen together. Attica is hardly bigger than the Isle of Wight, and infinitely less open to cultivation and transit. And ancient Athens would easily stand in the area of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.

When we see it, we realise how small Greece is, in one sense; and yet how widely spread out over the Eastern Mediterranean. Continental Greece is merely one vast mountain mass, into whose lateral valleys and gorges the sea has forced a channel. And yet, in another sense, Greece with its interminable chain of rocky islets, from Corcyra to Crete, from Crete to the Propontis, seems to lead on in a continuous land for a thousand miles. The mainland is severed by nature into small segments, each hardly able by itself to feed a thousand families.

Single great estate in England

All Attica can hardly grow as much food as a single great estate in England, France, or Russia. Eleusis, which Athens ultimately subdued and incorporated, is not so far from Athens as is Shepherd’s Bush from Woolwich; and these famous towns are separated from each other by a steep and difficult mountain pass, which a regiment could hold against an army corps. Megara, which was a thorn in the side of Athens at the time of her imperial glory, was not much further from her than is Gravesend from London. Corinth, the deadly enemy of Athens, could be seen from the Acropolis. Asgina, which Themistocles so earnestly advised the Athenians to incorporate, looks as near to Athens as Harrow looks to Notting Hill; and a single oarsman might row himself across the gulf in any open boat bulgaria trips.

The mighty statue in bronze of Athene Promachos, the famous work of Pheidias, which, with its pedestal, towered some sixty feet on the summit of the Acropolis, could be seen from the coast of Argolis or from any of the heights of Corinth, Megara, Aigina, or Boeotia. Thence they could behold Athene keeping watch night and day over her beloved city. One used to doubt if this famous image could escape the charge of obtrusive monstrosity which is the note of colossal statues. But when we stand on the spot, and remember how this resplendent figure of the Patron Goddess ever faced the enemies of Athens, as each sunrise and sunset tipped with golden fire the point of her spear and the crest of her helm, we may conceive how this Palladium sank into the popular imagination. And we see fresh meaning in the tale how, eight hundred years after the date of its erection, Alaric and his Goths had been scared from their raid on the Acropolis by the vision of the Goddess keeping ward over her city in arms.