The might of the Bulgarian ruler was so great that the Byzantine Empire was forced to pay him tribute; it made him father-in-law of the Emperor who was a minor, did not oppose the solemn proclamation of the Bulgarian head of church as a Patriarch, independent from the church in Constantinople, and that of Prince Simeon as Tsar, i. e. Emperor'of all Bulgarians and Greeks'.
Simeon built his state and army after the model of an empire. In the capital of Preslav he built impressive palaces and churches, vying with those in Constantinople.
In two or three decadesPreslav became one of the major cities in Europe. The stone walls surrounding it were over three metres thick and ten metres high. The king's palaces and the so-called6round' or 'golden'church were the most impressive buildings; their architecture was original and they were richly decorated with gilded domes, .marble columns, monumental mosaics made of multi-coloured pieces of glass and ceramic cubes, original painted ceramics which scientists have called 'Preslav ceramics'. The exquisite artistry of Bulgarian ceramic art of that time found also expression in beautiful vessels and decorations, as well as in whole icons made of multi-colour ceramic pieces.
The country's culturaL nourishment during the reign of Tsar Simeon has gone down in Bulgaria's history as 'the Golden Age of old Bulgarian literature and culture'.
No other country in Europe at the time, besides the Byzantine Empire, experienced such an intensive and fruit-ful cultural development. Nahum and Clement, lavishly supported and encouraged by the Bulgarian ruler, who had been educated at the famous Magnaura school in Constantinople, turned PresLav and Ohrid into genuine literary centres.
Konstantin of Preslav
Talented and patriotic-minded writers like Yoan Exarch (John the Exarch), Konstantin of Preslav, the monk Chernorizets Hrabur, Presviter Grigorii and Tsar Simeon himself worked there. Old Bulgarian literature, according to the spirit of the time, was religious in character, but in it we find also elements from natural history (particularly in the Hexameron by Yoan Exarch), borrowed from ancient Literature. This is what makes it different from the early feudal Literature of Western Europe, which was extremely hostile to the literature of the ancients and had an entirely religious character. In this sense old Bulgarian literature, like Byzantine literature, threw a bridge between the ancient and the early feudaL European civilization.
WordPress.com
No comments:
Post a Comment