Second Bulgarian Empire - Culture

Culture

In the 13th and 14th centuries Bulgaria became a thriving cultural centre. The flowering of the Tarnovo school of art was related to the construction of palaces and churches, to literary activity in the royal court and the monasteries, and to the development of handicrafts. Remarkable achievements of this school have been preserved down to this day: the murals of the Boyars' houses in Trapezitsa and Saint Forty Martyrs Church in Veliko Tarnovo, the Boyana Church (1259) and the Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo. Book illuminations also developed, examples include the Manasses Chronicle, the Tetraevangelia of Ivan Alexander and the Tomich Psalter. Many relics of Orthodox martyrs and saints were kept in the numerous churches in the capital Turnovo, which earned the capital the byname "second Constantinople". Most of the architectural monuments from that period include churches, monasteries and fortresses. The Bulgarians usually built small churches with short doors to show humbleness and homage to God. They were often richly decorated with blind niches, various geometrical patterns from bricks, stone cubes, ceramics; while from the inside they were painted with marvelous frescoes which from the 13th century began to draw away from the canon and became realistic.

In the 14th century many new monasteries were built under the patronage of Ivan Alexander on the northern slopes of Stara Planina, especially in an area near the capital Tarnovo which became known as "Sveta Gora" (Holy Forest) - a name also used to refer to Mount Athos. The numerous monasteries across the Empire were the very centre of the cultural, educational and spiritual life of the Bulgarian society. Ather the mid 14th centuries, many monasteries began to build fortifications under the thread of Turk invasions, such as the famous Tower of Hrelyu in the Rila monastery.

There used to be a perfectly organised defensive network of fortresses which consisted of several lines along the Danube, the Balkan mountains, the Rhodope, the coast. The main fortress was Turnovo. Other major castles included Vidin, Silistra, Cherven, Lovech, Sofia, Plovdiv, Lyutitsa, Ustra and many others.