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Evgenia Iroeva
century and on the revolutionary class struggles in the first half of the twentieth
century, while the medieval past remained in the background. This is a kind of
counterthesis of the emphasis on the Middle Ages from the previous interwar pe¬
riod evaluated negatively during socialism.
In the 1960s, the Middle Ages gradually returned as an object of monumental
presentation. Several films and sculptures on medieval themes appeared, almost all
devoted to the period of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom and the Asen dynasty. The
emphasis was placed on figures of rulers and clerics who were perceived as leaders
of the Bulgarian people against external and internal enemies (e.g. Tsar Kaloyan
against the Latin knights; Tsar Ivan Asen II against the Byzantines; Tsar Ivaylo
against the boyars, Tatars, and Byzantines; Tsar Svetoslav Terter against the Tatars;
Tsar Ivan Shishman and Patriarch Evtimiy against the Turks). The first Bulgarian
state and its rulers were returning to the public stage in the context of the growing
nationalistic trend in the 1970s, culminating in the celebrations of the 1,300-year
anniversary of the Bulgarian state in 1981. The large-scale campaign for the jubi¬
lee made use of works of film art, painting, and sculpture, which left a significant
footprint in the Bulgarian culture of the late socialism.
‘The interpretations of medieval history were strongly influenced by the official
Marxist-Leninist understandings of the class struggle and about the common
people as a moving element of the historical process, especially in the first decades of
communist rule. In the years to come, the socialist state started to use increasingly
the medieval past as a “symbolic capital”, using Bourdieu’s term, in its policies for
constructing the notions of continuity, of identity, and of self-esteem among the
Bulgarian citizens.
References
Angelov A. 1969 = Anreaos A. 1969. Jumumep Irodscenos. Monoepagiuuen ouepx (‘Dimitar Gyudzhe¬
nov. Monographical Essay’). Cocbua: BBATApCKH XYAOXKHHK.
Bond G. & Gilliam A. 1994. Introduction. In: G. Bond & A. Gilliam (eds.), Social Construction of the
Past: Representations as Power. London: Routledge, pp. 1-23.
Bozhkov A. 1978 = Bomxxos A. 1978. Beneapekama ucmopuuecka »cusonuc. Bmopa uacm (‘Bulgarian
Historical Painting. Second part). Cou: Brarapcku xyAoxHmKk.
Bratoeva-Darakchieva I. 2013 = Bparocsa-Aapakunesa M. 2013. Braeapcxo uepanno Kuno: om “Kaaun
Opensm” do “Mucua JIondon” ("Bulgarian Historical Cinema: From “Kalin the Eagle” till “Mission
London”). Codust: Cumoanum.
Chakarova K. 1969 = Uaxpposa K. 1969. Eana canuuxa aya (‘A Single Word’). Kapno6amcxa npaeda,
vol. 25, no. 5, p. 2.
Doncheva G. 2012 = Aonuesa T. 2012. 3HadgeHHero Ha eMONMHTE B ŐBATApCKHA HCTOPITTECKH CDHAM
(The Importance of Emotions in Bulgarian Historical Film’). In: H. Aperos (cxcr.), “pea
adocm e 3a mene”: Emoyuonannomo cedop2canue Ha OeAzapcKama HAYUOHAAHa UdenmuuHocm
»