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Art History in Bulgaria: Institutional Frameworks, Research Directions and Individual Scholars

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Art History in Bulgaria: Institutional Frameworks, Research Directions and Individual Scholars ART HISTORY IN BULGARIA: INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORKS, RESEARCH DIRECTIONS AND INDIVIDUAL SCHOLARS Elka Bakalova The development of Bulgarian scholarly life officially began after the lib- eration of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule in 1878. In fact the ground was prepared with the founding of the Bulgarian Literary society in Brăila (Romania) in 1869 which, in 1878, moved its seat to Sofia, and in 1911 was renamed The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, an autonomous state organization for scientific research. The University of Sofia was founded in 1888, by virtue of a decision of the National Assembly, yet neither at the time of its establishment nor today does it have a specialism in ‘art history’.1 Indeed, while the new state was quick to establish its own edu- cational institutions, the first generations of art historians were all trained abroad, particularly in Germany, to which Bulgaria had close political and social ties. Thus the art historian, archaeologist and literary critic Andrei Protich (1875–1959) studied philosophy at the Universities of Heidelberg and Leipzig in 1896–1897, and then at the Polytechnic in Dresden. He graduated in philology and art history with philosophy at Leipzig in 1901. Likewise Gavril Katzarov, a classical scholar, historian and archaeologist, rector of the University of Sofia and director of the National Archaeologi- cal Museum (1929–1930) and the Bulgarian Archaeological Institute (after 1940), graduated in classical philology at the University of Leipzig, having studied Classics in Berlin and Munich. The oldest institution dealing with the study of Bulgarian art was the Archaeological Museum in Sofia, founded in 1892 (originally known as the ‘National Museum’, with three collections: medieval, numismatic, and ethnographic) and ceremonially opened to the public in 1905. In 1906 the ethnographic collection was removed and became the Ethnographic Insti- tute with its own museum. In 1909 the National Museum was renamed the National Archaeological Museum with the function of preserving monu- ments of culture in two new sections: (1) medieval and (2) fine art with, 1 Today only separate courses are offered for different specialist subjects. For example, Western European medieval art is taught within the MA programme in medieval philoso- phy, while general art history is taught as part of Fine Arts. 288 elka bakalova later, an additional section for pre-history. It was in this institution that the study of ancient and medieval art began. The Bulgarian Archaeologi- cal Institute, a private institution associated with it, was founded in 1920. Bogdan Filov (1883–1945) (former director of the National Museum, pro- fessor in Archaeology at Sofia University and author of the first studies on ancient and medieval art and architecture) was elected its first director.2 The Institute was subsidized annually by the Ministry of Public Educa- tion and a number of other sponsors and newly founded funds. Over the following twenty years the Institute and its members carried out active research and publishing activities. Up to 1942 the Institute brought out over twenty-five of its own publications, among them thirteen volumes of its Proceedings. Contact was established with hundreds of institutions together with book exchanges with numerous institutes, universities and libraries in Europe and round the world. Following the founding of the modern Bulgarian state, the study of art and architecture played an important role in the development of a con- ception of national identity. Particular attention was given to the study of the history of Bulgarian medieval art and architecture, from the early years of the twentieth century onwards; this paralleled the development of the study of Byzantine and Eastern Christian art elsewhere. Eager to promote their distinctive national culture, the first Bulgarian art histori- ans thus did not engage in the study of Ottoman art situated within the territories of the new state. Writings on Bulgarian art were scattered in the works of Bulgarian and non-Bulgarian historians, linguists, archaeologists and ethnographers, and were gathered together for the first time by Bogdan Filov in his book Old Bulgarian Art, first published abroad in 1919, and coming out in Bulgar- ian in 1924.3 Filov’s work, in spite of the weaknesses in its general charac- terization of the Byzantine style in art (given in a separate chapter at the end), still retains some methodological validity in traditional archaeology. The next phase in the study of Bulgarian art was connected to the cul- tural impact of Russian emigration to Bulgaria after the revolution of 1917. The well-known medievalist Nikodim Kondakov (1844–1925) emigrated to Bulgaria and became a professor at the University of Sofia (1920–22) and 2 Bogdan Filov, Антични паметници в Народния музей (Sofia, 1912); Filov, Софийската църква ‘Св. София’ (Sofia, 1913). 3 Bogdan Filov, Early Bulgarian Art (Bern, 1919); Filov, L’ancien art bulgare (Paris, 1922); Filov, Старобългарското изкуство: (Изследване) (Sofia, 1924)..
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