Hall 3 - The Bulgarian state in the Middle Ages VII - XIV centuries.

The exhibition in hall III is dedicated to medieval Bulgarian history and culture: The birth of Bulgarian statehood in the Northern Black Sea steppes. The "transmission" and consolidation of the state-building traditions of the Lower Danube. The strengthening of the state in the XNUMXth century and its decline at the beginning of the XNUMXth century. Restoration at the end of the XNUMXth century. Stabilization and flourishing in the next two centuries until the Ottoman invasion in the second half of the XNUMXth century.

The dawn of Bulgarian statehood was in the area of the Northern Black Sea steppes, when in 632 Khan Kubrat (632 – 665) rejected his dependence on the Western Turkic Khaganate and founded Great Bulgaria. The first highlight of the exhibition are 9 copies of the treasure from the village of Malaya Pereshchepina, identified as inventory from the grave of the first Bulgarian ruler.

The pressure of the Khazars in the 70s of the 681th century led to the proto-Bulgarian diaspora, part of which controlled the Byzantine provinces of Lesser Scythia and Lower Mysia and created the Bulgarian Khanate of the Lower Danube (864 – XNUMX). The Slavic tribes that settled here earlier retain relative independence, and the bearer of the state-making tradition is the proto-Bulgarian tribal aristocracy, with which the elitist culture of the pagan period is also connected. Above all, these are the representative wooden and later stone palace and temple buildings in the capital Pliska, the luxurious dishes used at the khan's table for the so-called "fed people of the ruler", representative belt sets and ornaments, decorated in the fashionable "Wrap-Velino" or "sticks-twigs" style for the era, medallions with the image of the ruler Khan Omurtag, probably given for merit to noble representatives of the old Bulgarian society. The folk culture of the ordinary population, who lived in dwellings dug into the ground in fortified or unfortified settlements, is represented by artifacts used in everyday life: kitchen vessels of sandy clay, made by hand or on a slow wheel, tableware - jugs, pans, amphoric pitchers, made from purified gray, yellow or red, after firing, clay, knives, spindle vertebrae, hearths, needlepoints with needles preserved in them, sharpeners. Simple clothing accessories are also presented - glass or clay beads, earrings, medallions and amulets, found during the exploration of the necropolises near Balchik, the villages of Topola, Dobrichko and the villages of Dibich, Shumensko, "Penkovka" type vessels from Yakimovo and Kozloduy.

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The strengthening of the khanate, the territorial expansion south of Stara Planina and east to Macedonia, carried out during the campaigns of Khan Krum, and later with the successful military campaigns of Tsar Simeon, is visualized with artifacts related to the armament and equipment of the Old Bulgarian army - sabers , battle axes, spear and arrowheads, stirrups.
The process of establishing the Bulgarian Khanate, its institutions, and the development of pagan culture was interrupted in 864 with the adoption of Christianity by Prince Boris (852 – 889) as the state religion. The earliest evidence is the inscription from the village of Balshi, southern Albania. This act raises the international authority of the state, accelerates the process of internal consolidation. It was accompanied by the construction of churches and monasteries, the adoption of the Slavic script, the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet, the translation of the canonical works and the introduction of worship in the Old Bulgarian language.
With Prince Simeon taking the throne in 893, the state center was moved to Veliki Preslav. The new capital was fortified and landscaped with stately palaces, civil and ecclesiastical buildings, richly decorated with sculpted stone sculptures, mosaics and wall painted ceramics. The monasteries around the capital became centers of the new artistic crafts - for the production of manuscripts, bone carving, painted ceramics. In the vicinity of the capital, the first centers for the production of artistic metal for ecclesiastical utensils, but also for mass taste and faith, were organized - pectoral crosses, belt fittings and ornaments, household items decorated in the spirit of Byzantine aesthetics. The exhibition presents various tools and tools for production: insert anvil, pliers, goldsmith's hammers, hatet, tongs, casting molds, models, matrices, finished and semi-finished products and scraps from the production workshops near the village of Nadarevo, Targovishtko and the village of Popitsa, Byala Slatina .
Evidence of the political rise of the Bulgarian state are the royal seals - of prince Boris-Mikhail, of Simeon - as a prince, and after his proclamation as a prince, of his successor Peter (927 - 970), under whom the high title of ruler and an independent Bulgarian patriarchate were officially recognized by Byzantium.
At the end of the 997th century, under the pressure of Byzantium, the political and church-religious center moved to the western Bulgarian regions. The struggle to defend the country's independence was led by King Samuil (1014 – 91) of the Komitopul dynasty. The only monument in his name preserved in our country is exhibited in the hall - the tombstone in memory of his parents and his eldest brother David /1015/, as well as the construction inscription of Ivan Vladislav (1018 - 1018), "Bulgarian tsar and autocrat". for the renovation of the Bitola fortress. In XNUMX, after half a century of resistance against Byzantium, the independent political development of the Bulgarian state was temporarily interrupted, the Bulgarian secular and spiritual aristocracy, the royal court and the administrative institutions were destroyed. The Bulgarian lands fall completely into the sphere of the Byzantine cultural tradition, visualized by monuments from Southern Bulgaria - stone sculpture from the church "St. John the Forerunner" on the island of "St. Ivan" and "St. Apostoli" in Sozopol, ornaments imitating luxurious Byzantine patterns with cheap, but accessible, material.
At the end of the XNUMXth - XNUMXth centuries, the invasions of the so-called "late nomads" - Pechenegs, Uzis and Cumans - became more frequent in the northern Bulgarian lands, but also south of Stara Planina. Their presence is visualized here with their characteristic weaponry, luxurious belt trimmings, fittings, equipment, ornaments, hand-made dishes, dated to the XNUMXth - XNUMXth centuries.
October 26, 1286, the day of St. Dimitar of Thessaloniki, marked the beginning of the uprising of the brothers Asen and Peter and the beginning of the restoration of Bulgarian statehood. The military victories of the Bulgarian army are visualized through various examples of medieval weapons and equipment from the 1323th - 1330th centuries - swords, maces, arrowheads, as well as an image of a warrior on sgraffito ceramics from Tarnovgrad. The two centuries of Byzantine rule and the following centuries led to the final adoption of the structure of the Byzantine Imperial Court. Representative palace buildings, a patriarchal complex, churches and monasteries were built in the new capital center of the restored Tsarevgrad Tarnov state. Highlights of the exhibition are two marble monuments from Tarnovgrad – a fragment of a tympanum with an image of an angel and a capital with the monogram of Tsar Michael Shishman (XNUMX – XNUMX) from the liturgical furnishings of the palace church.
The aspiration to confirm the legitimacy and international recognition of the kingdom, the independence of the Bulgarian church found expression in the diplomatic activity of Tsar Kaloyan (1197 - 1207). The exhibition presents a seal ring with the inscription "Kaloyan's ring", a "Todor primicure" ring, belongings of Bulgarian aristocrats and samples of the coinage of Bulgarian rulers from the XNUMXth century.
The "reigning city of Tarnov" is the standard followed by the other Bulgarian medieval cities - Cherven, Shumen, Ovech, Lovech, Melnik, etc. Trade and artistic crafts flourished in them: the production of luxury table ceramics, goldsmithing, textile production, ironwork, marked in the exposition by samples of "sgraffito" from various centers, tools for metal production - casting molds, matrices and finished products.
In 1235, the Bulgarian Church received the status of an independent patriarchate, and churches and monasteries became centers of education and literature. The theme is developed through artefacts, from the church interior and fixture: the carved doors from the Church of St. Nikola Bolnički" from Ohrid and from Rila Monastery, throne of Stefan Hrelyu Dragovol from the church built according to his will, processional cross, probably from a church dedicated to St. Dimitar, Targovishtko. An attractive accent is the XNUMXth century lizardite icon with reused silver fittings "Twelve Feasts of the Lord".
As a result of the Crusades, the policy of Manuel I Comnenus (1143 – 1180), the union with the Pope, trade relations with Venice and Genoa, contacts with the Latin Empire, the Kingdom of Hungary and the countries of the East in the XII and following centuries, new goods penetrated the Balkans, technologies and craftsmen. The new fashion trends find expression in the clothing, its accessories, decorated in the technique of émail de Limousin or émail translucide, the carriers of which are the Bulgarian aristocrats. The presented vessels of the "Miletus" type, luxurious ceramics from Iran and China testify to the contacts with the East.
The XNUMXth century was the time of the Paleologian renaissance, the spread of hesychasm and the flourishing of the Tarnovo literary and painting schools, but also a time of political separatism. The disintegration of the state into three kingdoms - Tarnovo, Dobrudzhan and Vidin, is visualized through three great treasures presented in the exhibition - the Nikopol, so-called. "Tatar booty" found in Kaliakra and the treasure from the village of Druzhba, Vidinsko.
The unsuccessful resistance against the Ottoman invaders from the second half of the 1365th century is symbolically hinted at by the polyeleia from the Markov Monastery, which bears the name of its founder - King Valkashin (1371 - 1371), from the Mrnyavcevich family, who made one of his last attempts under Chernomen in XNUMX for resistance against a cultural and state tradition alien to Bulgarian society.