Veliky Preslav Archaeological Museum
The Archaeological Museum Veliki Preslav is in on October 26, 1906 Bulgarian town of Veliki Preslav opened art collection (full name: Bulgarian Национален историко-археологически резерват и музей "Велики Преслав" , National historical-archeological reserve and museum Veliki Preslav ). The museum is located in the immediate vicinity of the modern city and is located on the ruins of the capital of the same name of the First Bulgarian Empire , Preslav . The archaeological reserve extends over an area of 500 hectares and opens up part of the medieval city.
history
The desire for an archaeological museum in Veliki Preslav, in which the archaeological finds discovered up to this point can be housed and exhibited, arose soon after the liberation of Bulgaria in 1878 . However, this was only fulfilled on October 26, 1906, when the Archaeological Society of Preslaw "Titscha" was founded on the initiative of Jordan Gospodinow and Karel Škorpil ( Bulgarian Преславско археологическо дружество "Тича" ). The main aim of this archaeological society was to bring together an art collection and to research and protect the ruins of the administrative center of Tsar Simeon I (893–927). As the museum did not have its own building at that time, the archaeological finds of the following years were divided into three collections, housed in the town hall in Preslaw, in buildings in the nearby Patlejna biosphere reserve and in a pavilion by the Round Church (also known as the Golden Church ) the old capital.
In 1949 the archaeological museum was housed in the Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius , in the immediate vicinity of the medieval city.
On the occasion of the 1300 anniversary of the founding of the Bulgarian Empire , a new building was made available to the museum in 1981, which not only offers enough space for exhibitions, but also has a cinema and conference hall, in which, among other things, book presentations, art exhibitions and international historical symposia are organized become.
Exhibitions
The Veliki Preslav Archaeological Museum currently has more than 35,000 archaeological finds, of which around 1,700 are exhibited, including unique items such as the painted ceramic icon of St. Theodor Stratelates from the 9th century, the Preslaw treasure and the ceramic iconostasis from the imperial monastery in Preslaw.
The so-called Preslaw Treasure - part of the permanent exhibition - consists of more than 170 richly decorated finds made of gold, silver and bronze, 15 silver Byzantine coins of the emperors Konstantinos Porphyrogennetos (Constantine VII. 913-959) and Romanos Lakapenos (Romanos II. 959 –963), the characteristic white pottery painted for Preslaw and one of the world's largest collections of Middle Byzantine stamps from the period between 971 and 1088.
Cyrillic monuments
After Simeon I the Great moved the imperial capital in 893 from Pliska to Preslaw , about 50 km to the south-west, the city soon became an important political, spiritual, artistic and intellectual hub, seat of the royal state administration and the patriarch of the since 927 independent Bulgarian Orthodox Church.
The Preslaw School established itself soon after its relocation from Pliska around 893, where it was founded in 885/886 by Simeon's father Boris I. Michael , as the third cultural and spiritual center of Bulgaria next to the Ohrid School ( Bulgarian Охридска книжовна школа) and the school of Pliska. The seminary of Preslaw soon developed as the center of the old Bulgarian written culture , in which the most important of its time writers, translators, philosophers and geographers, including the monks and scholars Konstantin von Preslaw , Naum von Preslaw , Ioan Exarch (also Johannes Exarch; † 900) , Tudor Doks , Presbyter Kozma and Chernorizec Hrabar have developed broad literary activities.
During this time, which in Bulgaria is referred to as the Golden Age of Bulgarian culture, the school in Preslav went to a new, suitable script - the Cyrillic alphabet , which was mainly based on elements of the Greek uncial script, which had been used for centuries. The oldest Cyrillic monuments have also been found in old Preslav and its surroundings, which once again underline the fact that the Cyrillic alphabet was invented at the court of the Bulgarian Tsar Simeon I the Great in Preslav.
The Tudor epitaph
In the Preslaw Archaeological Museum, there are many stone monuments from the time between the 9th and 10th centuries that show the unmistakable features of the Cyrillic alphabet , including an exhibit from the early 10th century. The inscription fragment was found near the so-called Round Church (also known as the Golden Church) in the then capital Preslaw .
The fragmentary inscription informs:
"" I am the tomb of Tudor, a servant of God. From this stone it is ... ells to the wall ... ""
It is controversial whether the buried are Tudor Dux (also Dox), an aristocrat, famous representative of the literary school of Preslav (Bulgarian Преславска книжовна школа), priest and author of many old Bulgarian texts who lived in the 9th century Has. It is believed that Tudor Dux was one of the brothers of the Bulgarian king Boris I. Michael (* 1st half of the 9th century, † May 2, 907 in Bulgaria).
Ana's funerary inscription
One of the first surviving stone inscriptions in Cyrillic is the inscription on a fragment of a grave cross from the 9th – 10th centuries. Century that once marked the grave where Ana rested. Ana was the youngest daughter of the Bulgarian ruler Boris I (852-889) and sister of his heirs to the throne Vladimir Rassate (889-893) and Simeon I (893-927). The bilingual inscription tells in Old Bulgarian in Cyrillic spelling and in Greek that
"" ... the servant of God Ana has died. In the month of October on the ninth day, the worshiper Ana died ... ""
Mostitsch's grave inscription
The Archaeological Museum of Veliky Preslav also exhibits Mostitsch's grave inscription (Bulgarian Mostich). Mostitsch was an Ichirgu-Boil , the third man in the state, at the time of the Bulgarian rulers Simeon I and Petar I. Mostitsch's grave inscription is the oldest surviving inscription, which historically documents the use of the imperial title of Tsar for the first time. The monument was found in 1952 by Prof. Stancho Waklinow (bulg.Stанчо Ваклинов) during archaeological excavation work in the so-called Mostitsch Church in the inner city of medieval Preslav . According to research, the stone monument was created in the fifties or at the latest in the sixties of the 10th century.
The carved text reads (in Old Bulgarian and translated):
"Сьдє лєжитъ Мостичь чрьгоѵбъɪля бъɪвъɪи при Сѵмеонѣ цр҃и и при Пєтрѣ цр҃и ос (м) иѫ жє дєсѧть лѣтъ съɪ оставивъ чрьгоѵбъɪльство ї вьсе їмѣниѥ бъɪстъ чрьноризьць ї въ томь сьврьши жизнь своиѫ."
“Mostitsch, Itschirgu-Boil rests here under Tsar Simeon and Tsar Petar. At the age of 80 he left his office, gave up all his fortune, became a monk and that is how his life ended. "
Individual evidence
- ^ Curta, Florin, Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1250 (Cambridge Medieval Textbooks), Cambridge University Press (September 18, 2006), pp. 221-222.
- ^ Archaeological Museum Veliki Preslav. Inscriptions ( Memento of the original from March 9, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Stone inscriptions from Bulgaria
- ^ The grave inscription in the Archaeological Museum Veliki Preslaw. 10 Century ( Memento of the original from March 9, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Itschirgu-Boil Mostitsch's grave inscription, 10th century
- ^ Monument of Mostitsch
Web links
Coordinates: 43 ° 8 ′ 44.1 ″ N , 26 ° 48 ′ 48.2 ″ E