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Encyclopedia "Sacred places of Bulgaria"
The idea of an encyclopedia dedicated to the holy places in Bulgaria is commendable. Working on it gave me great pleasure. Many thanks to the "Bulgarian Encyclopedia" team involved in this project, as well as personally to Tanya Kadiyska for the unfailing close connection while I was writing my texts. As a result of the efforts of all of us, we have a wonderful, information-packed volume that will serve its readers for many years to come.
Katya Melamed
Doctor of History and Archaeology
I congratulate you on the new encyclopedic edition "The Holy Places of Bulgaria"! With it, you filled a long-standing gap in the series of Bulgarian encyclopedias, the work of your team. I am especially pleased that in this volume for the first time a certain number of early Christian basilicas and other early cultural monuments of the IV-VI centuries in our lands were included. As a scientist who has been dealing with this period for more than 50 years, I want to express my (and my colleagues') gratitude as it is a recognition of our work over the years. At the same time, the inclusion of early Christian monuments in the encyclopedia is an important contribution to the history of architecture and art during Late Antiquity in Bulgaria. There is no doubt that this will attract new readers and will interest many of them in visiting these and other sites from this period.
Thank you all for your efforts and I wish you to make another edition - complete with new and previously researched early Christian holy sites that were not now included.
Alexander Minchev
Long-time director of the Regional Archaeological Museum in Varna, honorary member of the National Archaeological Institute and winner of this year's "Varna" award for overall contribution to the field of ancient, Thracian and early Christian archaeology, history and art
History remembers, preserves and tells. I am going back in time - in 1991, the "History" editorial team developed together with the "Culture" editorial team for the "Bulgarian Encyclopedia" a concept for a one-volume encyclopedia "Bulgarian Temples and Monasteries". The concept was presented by a working group that included Zoya Krutilin - art critic, Tanya Kadiyska - architect, Todorka Mladenova - historian and archaeologist, and Velichka Smokova - technical editor. The proposal was not accepted due to lack of sufficient illustrative material and funds.
The Latin maxim will always be valid: "Times change and we change with them." Now before us is the magnificent edition "Holy Places of Bulgaria" - richly illustrated and expanded, comparing it with our old idea.
I wish my colleagues to follow the example of the French publishing houses "Larus" and "Achet Livre", which from one encyclopedic edition produce several short specialized encyclopedias, keeping the most important facts in the articles - this is what the editors of "Bulgarian Encyclopedia" always successfully do did, and bilingual editions may also be published to be used by foreigners.
Good luck!
Todorka Mladenova
Archaeologist, long-time head of the "Humanities and Social Sciences" editorial office at the Scientific Information Center "Bulgarian Encyclopedia"
The encyclopedia "Holy Places of Bulgaria" responds to the interests of Bulgarian society, which values and strives to learn about the history of our country. I believe that such publications will have a fundamental role in the formation and construction of a valuable attitude towards our cultural heritage in future generations. They are of a markedly scientific nature, but richly illustrated and presented in accessible language, and will help the reader to sift the "chaff from the grain" and not fall into the delusion of the many mystifications and pseudoscientific texts that have flooded the Internet space. I wish the book success and many joint scientific and creative projects!
Ch. Assistant Dr. Anton Genov
from the Research Center for Ancient European and Eastern Mediterranean Cultures at the Southwestern University "Neofit Rilski"
The realism of the Bulgarian is survival and the belief in the sacred, in the Gods as Good have become his flourishing. Yes, it is difficult for us to talk about flowering today. But we, the inhabitants of the country of Bulgaria, are (still) here. There are us! And this also happened because of the temples, houses of faith! There are us, the citizens of the Republic of Bulgaria. And we see it in the incredible work - encyclopedia "Holy Places of Bulgaria". The idea is the first splendor of this Book! Not an inventory of churches, temples of the confessions in the Bulgarian lands. And the holy places in the Bulgarian cities and palanquins! In the material age, we remember what has preserved us - the holy! Then, collected in ONE PLACE, in one book, all the houses of faith. Mainly, Orthodoxy, but also the religions of the other inhabitants of Bulgaria. With a spacious development of topics, of problems concerning our religions - accessible even to the unenlightened citizen in these matters. Enlightened readers have not been forgotten either - all creations of architecture, painting and sculpture, crafts related to faith in our lands are analytically and artistically presented. Spacious and varied photo material, excellent printing (optional in our publishing practice). What am I forgetting, probably many other important things... the book is so dazzling! It is such a WONDERFUL THING IN BULGARIAN!!! (Well, let me find one flaw: the area objects pointer could have been with a pointer to the corresponding object's page. But that's a recommendation for the second edition.). In the era of rapid loss of identity, of our authenticity!, such publications and their authors should be encouraged, encouraged and celebrated - this book is a magnificent collection, an anthology of the sacred in Bulgaria! Thanks to them!
Petar Stoykov Petrov
Bulgarian living in France since 1988.
Dear connoisseurs of the good Bulgarian book, the Scientific Information Center "Bulgarian Encyclopedia" at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences has pleased us again with an enriching book full of new knowledge. In the center of our attention is the wonderful edition of "Knigomania", dedicated to the sacred places of Bulgaria. I am one of those readers and authors who have been associated with the work of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences for decades. Her unit has enriched our society with necessary and valuable encyclopedias, and therefore the emergence of an idea for a new thematic edition makes me happy. I expect, quite reasonably, that it will arouse wide public interest. Our society is hungry for knowledge, and in this new, luxurious encyclopedia, science meets the good presentation of that knowledge.
Like the great pioneers in science, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences with its Scientific Information Center has over the years taken on this difficult, highly competent task and performed it in the best possible way. Authors in the publication are scientists, some of them also researchers of the described and presented holy places. This puts the information at the highest level of authenticity.
Rich illustrations add to this impression. The team that worked on this book shows skill and has coped with the demands of difficult and sometimes difficult to access material. The public's familiarization with it has taken its first sure steps, and the expectations from here on can only be towards expanding and enriching the information.
I congratulate all the workers who contributed their knowledge and skills to the wonderful encyclopedia. From the team that created this book, I expect more new and interesting thematic encyclopedic editions, enriching the culture and knowledge of our society.
Assoc. Dr. Margarita Vaklinova
Archaeologist, doctor of historical sciences
In the "Holy Places of Bulgaria" encyclopedia, we have included some of the most representative cult objects from Antiquity. The volume includes both temple complexes from the Black Sea Greek colonies, such as the sanctuaries of Apollo on the island of Saint Kirik near Sozopol and of the Pontic Mother of Gods in Balchik, as well as examples from the Danube city of Ulpia Escus, which were directly influenced by the Roman state religion. These city temples are distinguished by their monumental architecture, executed in the spirit of the best Greco-Roman traditions, and show the penetration of ancient culture in all corners of the Bulgarian lands. Attention is also given to sanctuaries that are more modest in terms of architecture, but which provide extremely valuable information about the religious life of the Thracian population during the Roman rule over the Balkan Peninsula. Some of them were explored in the first decades of the 20th century and their traces have not been preserved to this day, so they are not of interest for the purposes of cultural tourism. Acquainting the readers with the important cult objects at Batkun, Lozen, Glava Panega and others will undoubtedly enrich the ideas about the religious beliefs of the ancient population that inhabited the Bulgarian lands in Antiquity.
Prof. Dr. Ivan Valchev
Department of Archeology at the Faculty of History of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski"
The encyclopedia "Holy Places of Bulgaria" is extremely valuable, as there are not many editions presenting the rich Jewish cultural and historical heritage. For the young generation, the customs, beliefs, holidays and religious rites of the Bulgarian Jews are an unknown, forgotten world. Documenting the architectural and cultural Jewish heritage, the descriptions of the cult buildings, the rites in Judaism and the customs of the Israelites who inhabited our lands, will preserve the memory of a bygone era and enrich knowledge.
Alberta Alcalay
Director of the Center for Jewish-Bulgarian Cooperation "Alef" in Burgas
As soon as I flipped through the "Holy Places of Bulgaria", I remembered the places I had visited and felt sad for those I had not been able to visit. Whenever I looked at the frescoes and icons in monasteries and churches, I imagined how the painters worked and the people who prayerfully gazed at them to gain hope for life. And the priests who spiritualized them. Performances filled with the spirit of bygone Bulgarian times. From the articles and illustrations in "Holy Places of Bulgaria" I got the same feelings.
I congratulate Academician Vasil Nikolov, we have known each other since the time when he was the director of the National Archaeological Museum, since then we have not seen each other and I congratulate him for the initiative and the realization of this rich encyclopedia. Congratulations, too, to the pedantic laborers of history whose knowledge fills the contents of this encyclopedia.
Yavor Milushev
Actor
We believe that both the specialized series such as "Holy Places of Bulgaria" and the other publications of the Center are extremely useful. They are very professionally prepared and give synthesized information about the sites and comprehensive in variety. We sincerely hope that we will be able to enjoy future editions of the Scientific Information Center "Bulgarian Encyclopedia". Hearty greetings and successful and fruitful work!
Aglika Ikonomova – master of restoration
Veska Kamenova – manager of the "Center for the Restoration of Artistic Values"
Veska Kamenova – manager of the "Center for the Restoration of Artistic Values"
