The third volume of the collection “Notices of the Regional Historical Museum – Razgrad” was officially presented on the eve of May 24 at the Ethnographic Museum in the city.
In the cozy garden were seven of the authors of the publication: archaeologist Dilen Dilov, director of the library in Razgrad, Dimitar Petrov, Sevim Kurtchu from Kubrat, Aishe Redzheb from Loznitsa, former director of the museum Galena Radoslavova, former curator of the house museum “Dimitar Nenov” Nelly Nikolova and Georgi Dzanev, chief curator and numismatist at the museum in Razgrad.
In her greeting, the director of the museum Tanya Todorova reminded that all events in the calendar of the cultural institution are dedicated to the 135th anniversary of the museum in Razgrad and 100 years since the founding of the Archaeological Society. She thanked the authors for their participation in the scientific collection and emphasized the fact that Izvestia is unique in the country – with its content, exceptional prepress and luxury printing. This volume is dedicated to the restorer at the museum Stoyanka Savova, who died in December 2021. Tanya Todorova wished both herself and her colleagues that the next collection will be even more colorful on topics and authors.
Part of the circulation was bought during the presentation of the book. The lucky ones to own the edition had the opportunity to talk to the authors and get an autograph. And the winner of this year’s award “Acad. Ananie Yavashov ”and author in the first two volumes of the series Marina Boseva received the collection as a gift from her colleagues.
The book was presented by its editor-in-chief Georgi Dzanev. The editorial board also includes: Dilen Dilov, Daniela Gancheva, Nelly Nikolova, Dr. Dimitar Petkov and Viktor Kostadinov. The collection includes 31 articles by 50 authors from all over the country, thematically divided into five areas: Archeology; Numismatics; History of the Bulgarian lands XV-XIX centuries; New and latest story.
There are 11 articles on archeology, said Georgi Dvanev. Among them, he especially distinguished that of Dilen Dilov for the stone anthropomorphic stele from the Bronze Age, discovered by chance in the lapidarium of the Regional Historical Museum in Razgrad.
According to him, the publication of Galena Radoslavova in co-authorship with Valeri Yotov about a collective find of household items, tools and weapons from late antique Abritus, discovered during excavations in 1990, cannot be ignored.
Alexander Minchev presents curious data about the early Christian bronze censer from the VI century, stored in the fund of the Razgrad Museum.
Stella Doncheva from the Branch of the Archaeological Museum in Shumen tells about the reconstruction of 56 applications of horse ammunition – a find from excavations in the basilica in Abritus, developed long and accurately dated by archaeologist Georgi Dzanev – late tenth century.
Evgeni Georgiev is from the Ruse Museum, a new author in “Izvestia”. He presents a publication about the Rock Monastery Complex “Stairs” near the Ruse village of Ivanovo. In the section “Archeology” there is an article with 12 authors: two of them – Prof. Konstantin Totev from the Branch of NAIM in Veliko Tarnovo and Nadezhda Boteva from the Museum in Sevlievo are archaeologists, and the rest are chemists, professors and associate professors. They have studied the contents of a silver reliquary / reliquary / stored in the museum in Sevlievo, dating from the XII-XIII century, said Georgi Dzanev.
The section “Numismatics, Sphragistics and Epigraphy” includes seven articles. Varbin Varbanov from Ruse was present with the publication “The Early Camp of Transmariska. Coins from the 2015 Southwest Tower Survey. Dr. Vladimir Ovcharov participated with two articles: on the countermarks of the Golden Horde and on the undescribed coins with a basic monogram T (tamga).
Georgi Dzanev himself published another collective coin find from the village of Golyam Izvor. This is the only find from the Roman period, which has a mixed composition – 7 silver coins Antonini and 96 autonomous bronze coins of city governments, said Dzanev. This find, like most others in the Razgrad region, is associated with the events of the summer of 251 – the defeat of the Roman army, not far from Abritus by the Goths and the subsequent looting of the area.
In the third section – “History of the Bulgarian lands XV-XIX centuries”, there are three articles. According to the editor-in-chief of the collection, the greatest scientific contribution is the publication of Dr. Silvia Arizanova from Sofia University, which studies data on settlements in Ludogorie in the municipalities of Kubrat, Razgrad and Zavet from VIII century to 1878. The study is expected to continued for the rest of Ludogorie.
Six publications find a place in the “Ethnology” section. Three of them – of regular authors in the Izvestia: Dr. Aishe Redzheb, Dr. Sevim Kurtchu and Rumyana Dencheva, curator at the Ethnographic Complex “Etara”. Georgi Dzanev focused on the participation of his young colleague Adrian Hristov with a publication on the beliefs about death among the Gagauz from the Valchidol region.
There are four articles in the section “New and Recent History”: by Dr. Dimitar Petkov, Dimitar Petrov, Director of the Library in Razgrad, Gabriela Mihailova from the State Archives and Nelly Nikolova in co-authorship with Georgi Spasov.
Then each of the seven authors in the collection summarized their article in the publication.
Dilen DILOV: My publication is about a stone rectangular anthropomorphic stele from the Bronze Age, discovered by chance in the lapidarium of the museum in Razgrad. It may also have been a building material for Abritus. It dates back to 3000 years before the construction of Abritus. From this time are the earliest images of man on a plate. In this case: a flat relief image of a kneeling praying man – with outstretched fingers. Usually these images have a number of ornaments: belt, stone ax in the belt, necklace and steps on the back.
5000 years ago, during the Early Bronze Age, tribes came from the Ukrainian steppes and settled here for a short time. There are only a few such stelae in Bulgaria – in the Varna and Dobrich regions – near the entrances to tombs. Just like in the Ukrainian steppes.
Our stela has a double image of a necklace – most likely made of shells. There is a belt with a battle stone ax and a belt under the belt. The stelae from Varna and Dobrich do not have such a belt. The head is broken. There are also steps on the back.
There is still much debate as to whether the stele depicts a priest, a warrior, or the man buried in the mound. Or it is a deity. That’s why I put it in circulation in the collection.
Galena RADOSLAVOVA: The article is about a collective find from 1990 during our excavations near the peristyle building: household items, tools and weapons.
We paid special attention to a bronze lamp with a stand. It is dated to the V-VI century. These lamps are typical of the Byzantine era. The stand is unique in its form, such has not been found so far. It is in the exposition of the Razgrad Museum.
The other interesting things are the two swords, spearheads, hoes, combs, pan, bucket. All this is evidence of the way of life of the inhabitants of Abritus and this finding had to enter into scientific circulation.
Ayshe REJEB: My publications in all three volumes of “Izvestia” are part of my dissertation: in the first edition my topic was the ritual songs and dances of the Turks, in the second – the traditional ritual items, and now – the messages in the traditional Turkish shoes and yuchkuri.
My research is in the villages of Veselina, Beli Lom, Kamenar and Gorotsvet. I have emphasized the embroidered ornaments, which have a very rich symbolism and carry really mystical messages. And they convey a very festive look in the clothes of Turkish women. In the publication I used original dialect names and a lot of photos from my personal archive.
Sevim KURTCHU: The motivation to choose the topic of labor customs rites and crafts in the village of Seslav is related to the love for my home village. They are part of my diploma work “Festive ritual system for Bulgarians, Turks and Roma in the village of Seslav” from 2006.
The article presents data about the village, I look at the language situation between the ethnic groups: Bulgarians, Turks / Sunnis / and Roma. I look at labor customs and rituals – agrarian and non-agrarian.
I present both legends: – for Grandpa-Kasim’s fountain and for Zulfie fountain.
The article presents the crafts of potters, blacksmiths, coopers, tailors, barbers, saddlers, weavers, shoemakers, guards and builders.
The analysis of the collected materials shows that the work customs of the people in the village are formed on a common basis and way of life. They have a common livelihood and way of life. People are united, the earth is the same, so is bread and labor.
Nelly NIKOLOVA: It was a pleasure for me to work with Assoc. Prof. Georgi Spasov from Razgrad with a very rich family history.
In the publication we tell about Mihail Djurov – a person from the socio-political life in Razgrad in the period of its recent history.
The materials he collected over the years had to be shown, and “Izvestia” is a very good occasion and place for that. While processing the materials for the publication, we also found out where Mikhail Dzhurov’s house was. We also stepped on Marina Boseva’s research on Mihail Djurov in the first volume of the publication.
Kiril Djurov – grandson of Mihail Djurov’s brother – Georgi also helped us. We also used the memories of Krum Denev from the fund of the State Archives.
The material is attractive, we also published the notebook in which there is political poetry – I am a kind of touch on the socio-political life in Razgrad in the period of modern history.
Dimitar PETROV: In 2020 Razgrad celebrated the 150th anniversary of the library work – since the creation of a small library in the community center “Development” / “Consent”, as it was called then /. Dimo Hranov collected books in a cupboard back in 1870. The regional library is the successor to what he did then.
The history of the Republic of Bulgaria “Prof. Boyan Penev ”is collected in this collection – with all data and figures. In 1992 the library became regional and since then it has been called “Prof. Boyan Penev “. This is done on the recommendation of Bozhidarka Zlatareva, who works in the Local History Department.
The second part of my article is a special study of Boyan Penev, which I did in the National State Archives, where I found facsimiles and documents about him for the time he was in Razgrad. Boyan Penev came to Razgrad with his father from Shumen in 1888 and studied at the Razgrad High School. As a child he showed his talents: he painted, composed, conducted a men’s choir, which later became the Iron Strings Choir, created a school orchestra in which he played the violin, wrote scripts for parties. Apart from the library as the bearer of his name, the high school can also be proud of him, as its graduate, who became one of the leading professors of literature in Bulgaria.
I decided to present the library and Boyan Penev from his Razgrad period, because I think that this should be available to museum specialists and people in general.
We remind you that the Luxurious edition of the museum was published last November, but due to the restrictive anti-pandemic measures, so far it could not be presented to a wide audience.
The publication of “Izvestia” is an idea of the former director of the museum Ivan Ivanov. The first came to light in 2014, the second – in 2017. Editor-in-Chief of all three volumes, published by Faber – Veliko Tarnovo, is the chief curator of the museum in Georgi Dzanev, and the editorial board are his fellow museum specialists .
The third volume “Notices of the Regional Historical Museum – Razgrad” can be purchased at the Ticket Center of the museum / on the territory of ancient Abritus / at a price of 35 levs.
