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Ottoman Invasion on Balkan Peninsula
After the invasion of the Ottoman Turks Bulgaria’s culture went on the decline. Many mosques and buildings in Oriental style were constructed then, part of which are still preserved. During the first decades of foreign domination the building of Orthodox chur-ches was officially banned. Later it was permitted again but only if they were built under the ground so they would not be taller than a Turkish soldier on horseback would. The art of calligraphy and marginal drawing was developed only in monasteries far from the vigilant eyes of the Ottomans. The transcripts were scarce, at least during the first two centuries. The construction of new monasteries started only in the 17th and 18th centuries after the official permission of the Porte. Various schools in icon painting, wood carving of altars, and constructions of churches and monasteries were established. Despite the official independence of the Bulgarian church, it was subordinate to the Greek Orthodox Church and had to observe the order of the Turkish Sultan, which stipulated that all the icon inscriptions were written and all the church services were conducted in Greek. The struggle for the freedom of the church lasted for more than a century and eventually finished with gaining total independence of Bulgarian church. This gave a new impetus to the development of the icon painting and woodcarving schools, the most famous of which were the ones in Tryavna, Debur and Bansko. Zahari Zograph is a name known to every Bulgarian as one of the greatest icon painters of the time. His disciples created a new style in icon painting by introducing the portraying of ordinary people, church donors and benefactors of the spiritual life in Bulgaria. The somewhat forgotten and banned holidays in the secular and religious calendar were revived and the Bulgarian customs and rituals, as well as the folk songs and dances started to thrive. Songs were sung about heroes, haiduti, work, love, battles, nature and God. It was then that the country entered its National Revival. Father Paisii of Hilendar wrote his “History of the Slavonic Bulgarian People” - reminding the Bulgarians of their historical origin and restoring their self-confidence, spirit of national belonging and freedom. This thin book had numerous rewritings and did what many fruitless uprisings could not have done. There were two other books on Bulgarian history written by Blazius Kleiner and Raino Popovich preceding it, but they were known only to a few Bulgarian intellectuals living in exile and were too incomplete. One of the re-writers of Paisii’s history was Sofronii Vrachanski, himself a writer and spiritual leader. The architecture during the Revival had very distinctive features. Today one can see many quarters and town centres as well as settlements perfectly accomplished by the constructors of the time. Cobbled streets, houses on sloping terrain, bow-window balconies, small windows, colour palmettes on the side walls, and especially the bright colours in which the houses, one close to another, were painted, are typical for that period. Wood, stone and limestone were the basic construction materials. The houses’ interior is usually very intimate. The earthen floors, the little fireplaces, the wood-carved ceilings, the low doors and the window seats are characteristic for this new architectural style, later called “a la Franga”. Some fine examples of it may be found in Koprivshtitsa, Veliko Turnovo, Plovdiv, Shiroka Luka, Tryavna, Gabrovo, Elena, Kotel, Bo-zhen-tzi, Melnic and many other places in the country. They are frequently visited by artists, poets and musicians as well as by many tourists from the five continents. Of particular interests are the crafts of that time best preserved and displayed in the Etura open-air museum of art crafts near the town of Gabrovo, in Dobrich, Plovdiv, Tryavna, etc. The original architecture of buildings and bridges created a unique atmosphere in the towns of the Revival. One of the most renowned masters of building from that period is Nikola Fichev (Usta Kolyo Ficheto) (“usta” meaning master), whose hands created masterpieces of churches and belfries, unique bridges, buildings and drinking-fountains. The new Bulgarian literature was also gaining momentum. During that time, alongside with the teachers’ poetry and didactic prose, appeared the first Bulgarian plays, the first published books and the periodicals. Dobri Chintoulov, Petko Slaveikov, Lyuben Karavelov and Georgi Rakovski are Bulgarian writers of that time and Vassil Droumev, Krustyo Pishurka and Dobri Voinikov are the first Bulgarian playwrights. The genius of Hristo Botev is a consequence of a long process of maturing of the Bulgarian intellectuals. Even the Apostle of Freedom Vassil Levski tried his hand at writing epistolary literature and an interesting autobiographical poem, which is very revealing and sounds very colloquial. The political satire, feuilleton and the epigram also appear for the first time during that period. Hristo Botev’s name is connected with writing the best examples of these literary genres. Petko Slaveikov collected over 150, 000 Bulgarian sayings and proverbs. The Miladinov Brothers, Grigor Purlichev and Kouzman Shapkarev also wrote down examples of the folklore of Macedonian Bulgarians and created excellent literary works. Bulgarian culture advanced in quick pace thanks to the development of education - new schools, cultural centres and high schools were opened. Vassil Aprilov opened the famous Gabrovo High School in the middle of the 19th century, which bears his name today. Dr. Peter Beron wrote the first primer, called “Riben Boukvar” (The Fish Textbook). Course books on different school subjects were also published. A great number of Bulgarians were educated abroad - in Russia, Germany, Italy and France. |
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