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Visualization of Policies of Cultural Memory Construction
casts a sad glance towards the sky. At the same time, the imposing character of the
memorial, typical of socialist art, aims to create a sense of intransient grandeur and
vigour. Until 1989, the newly established memorial park was a scene for several cel¬
ebrations of anniversaries of the Battle of Kleidion in whose frameworks there were
historical re-enactments emphasizing the heroic yet tragic character of the events
that had taken place in the locality. Ihus, once again martyrdom meets strength of
mind in order to create a sense of national pride.
Conclusion
This chapter did not present all the works of art and literature related to our topic;
this was never our goal. The research was also limited in time, until the end of the
1980s; the emphasis was placed on the socialist period and its similarities and con¬
trasts to the previous period. However, in the future, the study could be extended
to cover the post-socialist period.
Our main goal was to show how cultural policies regarding the memory of
historical events find their expression through various visual media. The approach
we have chosen required the consideration of some key works in their specific
historical, political, social, and cultural context. This enabled us to examine the
artistic views on the past and the interpretations of that past by correlating them
to the dynamics of the context. The analysis proved the important role of images
which such artistic works create during the course of construction and mainte¬
nance of cultural memory for the past on a national and a local level. As the text
showed, the state policies for cultural memory construction dealing with the his¬
torical events related to King Samuel and the Battle of Kleidion were pursued
mainly in two specific contexts: the period of the Balkan Wars and the First World
War and the period after the late 1950s. Both periods are related to state policies
for national awakening and strong national self-awareness. The first period is the
time of intense struggle for national unity while the second one represents the time
of emancipation of socialist Bulgaria from the Cominform Bureau’ policy of inter¬
nationalisation and of the striving for re-Bulgarization of Pirin Macedonia. During
these two periods, we find state cultural policies in various artistic expressions and
that these expressions serve as an instrument for the dissemination of the policies.
The link between, on the one hand, the dynamics of the context and, on the other
hand, the interpretation of the past through the construction of a specific cultural
memory and the key role of art and the visual images in this process became visible
in the period between 1944 and the late 1950s when Bulgaria pursued the policy
of “Macedonisation” of the Pirin Macedonia region and thus dropped the strategy
of constructing the cultural memory of King Samuel and Battle of Kleidion. This
model of interpretation could be applied and verified in studies of other examples
from the near or the more distant past, including by comparing cases from differ¬
ent geographical areas.
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