a guide to ottoman bulgaria en

8/19/2019 A Guide to Ottoman Bulgaria EN

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© Dimana Trankova, 2011 (text)

© Anthony Georgieff, 2011 (text and photography)

© Professor Hristo Matanov, 2011 (text)

The above persons hereby assert their moral right to be identifiedas the authors of this work

A GUIDE TO OTTOMAN BULGARIA

by Dimana Trankova, Anthony Georgieff, Professor Hristo Matanov

All Rights Reserved.Without limitingthe rights under thecopyright reserved above,

no part ofthis publication may be reproduced,stored in, or introduced into a

retrieval system,or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic,mechanical,

photocopyingor otherwise),without theprior written consent ofthepublisher.

Всичкиправа запазени.Без да се ограничават до правата,под които е установено

авторското право,нито една част от това произведениенеможеда бъде

възпроизвеждана,съхранявана иливъвеждана в система за циркулация,или

препредавана по каквато ида била форма (електронна,механична,фотокопиране

илидруга) без писмено съгласиена издателя.

© Vagabond Media Ltd, 2011, 2012

First edition published November 2011

This revised and expanded second edition published February 2012

ISBN 978-954-92306-7-3

Translated from the Bulgarian by Vassil Yovchev and Anthony Georgieff

Subedited by Jane Keating

Graphic Design: Gergana Shkodrova, Dimitar Dimitrov

Frontcover:Devil's Bridge, Ardino

Frontcover, background: Sultan Abdülhamit II's berat to appoint Ilarion,a Bulgarian cleric,bishopof Nevrokop,now GotseDelchev,in 1894

Opposite page: Keyto TombulMosque,Shumen

Printed by Dimitar Blagoev Printing House


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PREFACE

MAP OF OTTOMAN HERITAGE I

OTTOMAN ARCHITECTURE

SHABLA

YAMBOL

SOFIA'S MOSUES

DEMIR BABA TEKKE, SBORYANO

FORTS & MOATS

ABANDONED MOSUES

VIDIN

SUVOROVO

KARDZHALI

OTTOMAN BATHS

NOVI HAN

OTTOMAN BRIDGES

KARLOVO

HASKOVO

UZUNDZHOVO

AGUSHEV KONAKS

PLOVDIV

BALI EFENDI, SOFIA

SHUMEN

MUSTAFA PASHA BRIDGE, SVILE

SILISTRA

Illustrationsonp14Clockwise, firstrow :Former zaviye,Ihtiman;ÇifteHamam,Plovdiv;Valchanov Bridgeon theRiver Rezovska,Bulgarian-Turkish border;The bindingof Ismael(Isaac),OsmanBabaTekke,Villageof Teketo in the Rhodope;Haskovo Eski Mosque

Second row: MustafaPashaBridge,Svilengrad;Eski Mosque,Vratsa;Balchikmosque;Belogradchikfort;Künt Kapu,Ruse

Third row :Par ts of Sultan MahmudII's water fountain,Varna; Banyabaşı Mosque,Sofia;Prayers in theWooden Mosque,Podkova; Inscription fromtheKar dzhali mosque; Waterfountain,Kavar na

Fourth row :Clocktower,Blagoevgrad;Muslimladies fromthevillageof Lyulyakovo inStaraPlanina;Agushev Konaks,Mogilitsa;TombulMosque,Shumen;Relief fromDemirBabaTekke,Sboryanovo

Fifth row :Ak Yazılı BabaTekke,Obrochishte;Mecidi Tabiafort,Silistra;InsidetheOmurtagmosque;Vidin fortress;Bridgein Dolen,theRhodope

Back cover

Firstrow :A scaledmodelof TombulMosque külliye,Shumen;Ceilingdecoration fromformer mevlevihane,Plovdiv;Clocktower,Karnobat;IbrahimPashaMosque,Razgrad;Interior of Kardzhali mosque;Bridgenear Borino,theRhodope

Second row :Inscription fromtheSultan MahmudIIwater fountain,Varna;Mosque,Provadia;A Muslimlady,Lomtsi;Assumption of Our LadyChurch,aformer mosque,Uzundzhovo;Water fountain in Demir BabaTekke; Sabri Hussein BabaTekke, Tutrakan

Third row :Mecidi Tabiafort,Silistra;St Sedmochislenitsi Church,former Imaret Mosque,Sofia;AkYazılı BabaTekke,Obrochishte;Sahat Mosque,Targovishte;Bridgenear Madan;BalchikoldMuslimcemetery

Fourth row :Mehme dFatih Mosque,Kyustendil; An attendant in theWoode n Mosque,Podkova;MehmedBeyMosque,GotseDelchev;SeidPashaMosque,Ruse;Waterfountain,Nese bar;Abandone d zaviye,Ihtiman

Fifth row :Cemetery,non-existent villageof Tamrash,theRhodope;Residentialarchi-tecture,Karlovo;Osman BabaTekke,Teketo;Lighthouse,CapeShabla;Kadin Bridge,Nevestino;Demir BabaTekke,Ruino

Sixth row :Eski Mosquedecorations,StaraZagora;MustafaPashaBridge,Svilengrad;StamboulKapı,Vidin;Bayrakli Mosque,Samokov;Agushev Konaks,Mogilitsa


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PREFACE

East of Malko Tarnovo, in the easternmost reaches of Bulgaria, abridge spans the Rezovska River. Once it had three high, beautifullycrafted stone arches, but now only one remains – that on theTurkish bank. The thick Strandzha forest surrounding it is quiet,inhabited only by deer, wild boar and hornets. You can only findthe dirt road leading to the bridge with a local guide, preferablydriving a 4WD.

The story of how that bridge was built and demolished is a tellingexample of the difficulties you will encounter when trying to workout what part of Bulgaria's cultural heritage is Ottoman by concept,execution, influence or funding.

No written account for the early building history of the bridgeexists but legends abound.

Until the 1800s that stretch of the Rezovska was uncrossable.The people of nearby Malko Tarnovo had to make a long detourto reach Küçük, or Little, Samokov, now the modern Turkish townof Demirköy.

About that time a man decided to build a bridge over the river.Valchan Voyvoda was a Bulgarian haydutin, or brigand, who hadwon fame as a daring robber of Ottoman convoys carrying taxesto Stamboul.

Valchan Voyvoda hired a local Bulgarian master builder.Somebody – the myths are quiet about just who – secured theapproval of the local Ottoman authorities. They were more thanhappy to see an important infrastructure project materialisewithout their having to spend a penny of the state's money.

Work started, and no one knew that one of the builders hewingstones on the site was Valchan Voyvoda himself.

The bridge was completed, a marvellous structure 15 metreslong, six metres high and two metres wide, enough for both peopleand carts to cross. The locals gathered to celebrate the blessing ofthe bridge, Bulgarians and Ottomans together. When the ceremonywas over and all the food and drink had disappeared, one of thebuilders stood on the river bank. He l et out a shout and then jumpedover the river. "Maşallah, maşallah!," the Ottomans cried in delightat this demonstration of skill and bravery. The man evaporated intothe forest, and no one realised that this was "blood-thirsty" ValchanVoyvoda.

The bridge soon became a busy point on the road through theStrandzha, and elderly folk still remember how their grandfathersand great-grandfathers crossed it on horseback and even on camels.The bridge was so important, that shortly before the 1912-1913Balkan Wars the Ottoman government commissioned an Italianarchitect to build a new, bigger version a few yards downstream.

The story of how the bridge was demolished is as bizarre andfascinating as the story of how it was built in the first place.

The border between the Kingdom of Bulgaria and the OttomanEmpire was demarcated along parts of the Rezovska River as late as1913. The bridge was fully operational until 1944 when the Soviets

invaded Bulgaria and assisted the local Communists in establishinga Stalinist state. The border with Turkey was sealed off. Bulgaria ofthe Warsaw Pact quickly came to view NATO's Turkey as an arch-enemy. The bridge was no longer used. In those days Bulgaria wasEast and Turkey was West.

Little verifiable information exists about how exactly the ValchanovBridge was destroyed. According to one urban legend, the G ermans,

Bulgaria's Second World War alliea possible Turkish intrusion. One sbridge and set off the German mAccording to another, Bulgarian Cto prevent foreign "saboteurs" froPeople's Republic. The most plausLocal apparatchiks and the military time a ferociously militarised "bordportion of the bridge to cut off a n oThe bridge was making crossing th

The half-destroyed Valchanov Bris a sorry sight. The bridge that wOttoman times, sponsored by a Ottoman money, epitomises fairly wthe common heritage of Bulgaria and actively destroyed on the othe

For many and varied reasons, day Bulgaria overwhelmingly dowcultural heritage. State educatifew pages the five centuries of focuses on uprisings and revol

subjugation. The Orthodox Churcthrust to "exterminate" ChristendIslamisation of Bulgarians. Little architecture, the arts and sciencethe Ottomans, nor is there be aOttoman influence in many areafrom cuisine to legislation, and fro


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its legacy is still very much present in the Bulgaria of NATO and theEuropean Union.

The Ottoman Empire has become the populists' favourite excusefor everything that has gone wrong in Bulgaria – from the poor workethic and the inefficient bureaucracy to the lack of proper roadsand the habit of eating sunflower seeds. Mention the Ottomans toan average Bulgarian and what you will get 98 percent of the timeis a long, one-sided verbal outpouring about the "barbarity" of theTurks as opposed to the virtues of the indigenous Bulgarians and,of course, the "liberating" role of Russia. There will be no mentionof the Ottoman cultural heritage at all, and few will even know thatone of Sofia's most beautiful churches was originally constructedas a mosque.

Against this background it is difficult to imagine that religioustolerance and multiculturalism actually existed in the Bulgarian

lands long before they came into being in Western Europe.Despite, or perhaps because of, the Ottoman conquest ofthe 14th-15th centuries, Bulgaria and the Balkans never saw thereligious wars of the sort that plagued Western Europe. A varietyof religions, faiths and beliefs flourished throughout the Balkanlands. Importantly, the Balkans offered sanctuary to many peoplespersecuted in their own lands on the basis of religion or ethnicity,the Jews of Spain and Portugal being the example that most readilycomes to mind. The High Porte in Stamboul might levy heavy taxesand crush uprisings and revolts with a scimitar of steel, but itsmillet system ensured that every taxpayer – Bulgar, Greek, Serb,Armenian or Jew – could enjoy freedom of worship as long as theyfulfilled their obligations to the sultan.

For centuries Bulgaria and the Balkans have been at the majorfault-line between Christian Europe and the Muslim East, but in auniquely Balkan manner Christianity (Eastern Orthodox and Roma n)and Islam have blended with local beliefs and superstitions, creatinga fascinating spiritual melting pot. At the huge Balkan crossroadsof religions and cultures there are still remnants of long-forgottenreligious practices and cults, disused temples, synagogues andcemeteries, and Islamic sites that live side by side with functioning

religious entities.Interestingly, the spiritual continuity and religious amalgamation

through the centuries have been so strong that some sites claimedby one group had originally been built by another and are nowbeing used for worship by a third.

Notwithstanding the negative attitudes and perceptions aboutwhat happened in the 14th-19th centuries, Bulgaria in 2011 is a very

different place from what it was in 1878, 1912 or 1944. It is now amember of important organisations of the Western communitysuch as NATO and the EU and it willingly embraces the Westernvalues of freedom and liberalism that its Communists had denied it.This should give it all the more confidence to be at peace with itselfincluding its Ottoman past, to focus on the positive rather thanon the negative, to feel safe and secure from real and imaginarythreats, including threats to its national identity. 500 years ofOttoman domination, seen in this light, should not necessarilymean antipathy towards Islam, not least because in the course of500 years Bulgarian and Turk lived side by side – and their great-great-grandchildren are now neighbours. Bulgaria stands in theunique position in Europe to bridge the gap between the twobecause it has had the knowledge, tradition and experience. Toput it in another way, it should capitalise on instead of negate its

Ottoman heritage in all its aspects.Owing to the many years of linguistic and cultural isolation,most of the Ottoman heritage of Bulgaria remains almostcompletely unknown to the outside world – and to the Bulgariansthemselves.

It is impossible in a book of this size to even attempt an outline ofthe multiplicity of the Ottoman experience in what is now Bulgaria,nor is it the intention of the authors. Instead of going into everycomplicated detail of the Ottoman legacy in this part of Europe,the aim of this book is completely different. It presents in a brief,concise and visually spectacular form a selection of Bulgaria's mostinteresting Ottoman monuments. Its main purpose is to enableboth Bulgarian and foreign visitors to be aware of what they seewhile travelling in various parts of the country. It is designed toappeal to the academic community as well as to the general public,both young and old. Notwithstanding its popular stance, this bookadheres strictly to established historical facts to avoid ambiguityand misinterpretation.

While researching and writing this book we partook of manyscientific and literary sources. These include, but are not limited to,Ottoman traveller Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatname, or Books of Travels,

Sofia, 1972, translated into Bulgarian and edited by StrashimirDimitrov; Travels in Bulgaria by Czech historian Konstantin Jireček,Sofia, 1974; Town-Planning and Architecture in the Bulgarian Landsin the 15-18th Centuries by Margarita Harbova, Sofia, 1991, inBulgarian. We also used extensively the works of Dutch historianProfessor Machiel Kiel, published in Bulgarian in 2005 as People andSettlements in Bulgaria During the Ottoman Period , and his articles in

the Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. IIIEnglish.

Other works that inspired us inMontagu, translated into Bulgaricheva as The Balkans Through tTravellers From the 18th Century , STravelogues About the Balkans in t

selected and translated by Mihail YEpigraphic Monuments in Northea

Centuries by Nikolay Panayotov, VWest classical book on the WesteFalcon , London, 1941; The Old WMichev, Varna, 2009.

Special thanks to Ventsislav ChaBalchik for the information he coll

heritage of the city, to archaeoloEski Mosque in Stara Zagora has blife, and to Mrs Konstantinova froVarna for supplying us with preciomosque in Suvorovo.

As soon as we started researchtranslating this book we were faced

First and foremost comes the descriptions, as well as the toponnow.

This book deals exclusively withe territory of the modern Repubend of the Second World War. Thmonuments that still exist in Buincluding Turkey, Greece, Serbia a


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OTTOMAN ARCHITECTURESTYLES, INFLUENCES AMALGAMATE

INTO DISTINCTIVE FASHION

"They build beautiful towns and villages. I know of no country,not even Italy or Spain, where each house in a group will be placedwith such invariable taste and such pleasing results for those wholook at it and out of it alike. The architectural formula of a Turkishhouse, with its reticent defensive lower story and its projectingupper story, full of windows, is simple and sensible; and I knownothing neater than its interior," wrote Dame Rebecca West (1892-1983) in Black Lamb and Grey Falcon , 1941.

This book, which today is widely recognised as one of the literaryclassics of the 20th Century, focuses on Yugoslavia, and the vistathat inspired this passage is of Mostar. It could just as easily referto the townscapes of Edessa, Bansko or any of the towns andvillages in the former Ottoman Empire which have preserved theold architecture, or at least parts of it. These places include Sarajevoin Bosnia and Herzegovina and Ohrid in the former Yugoslavrepublic of Macedonia. Kostur and Skecha, now respectively Kastoriaand Xanthi in Greece, Kovachevitsa and Bozhentsi, Old Plovdiv andArbanasi in Bulgaria, Amasya and Safranbolu in the Anatolian partof modern day Turkey are other fine examples.

This type of residential architecture is often considered to haveevolved locally: the fruit of the efforts, creative ideas and skills of

local architects, usually Christians. Indeed, many of the splendidhouses with porches and projecting upper floors were built byChristians for Christians, but perhaps even more were built forMuslims by Muslims.

This architectural style appeared and developed within theOttoman Empire, and spread throughout its territory – from theWestern Balkans to Asia Minor. It became a building tradition that

was favoured and used across the empire, regardless of the religionof the builders or of the people who commissioned the houses.

Of course, local characteristics appeared which make it easyto tell whether a certain building is a konak from Sarajevo, or amerchant's house from Tryavna or Skecha, but as a whole theconcept, the silhouette, the materials used – stone, wood, bricksand adobe – the interior design and even the furniture, whichincludes low-profile sofas and wooden built-in cupboards, are thesame everywhere.

The residential architecture typical of the Ottoman Empireprobably did develop from local building ideas, but the splendidhouses, which in the 18th and the 19th centuries were built inthe wealthy town quarters throughout the empire, could haveappeared only within the borders of a large state. Over the courseof 700 years the empire comprised a relatively stable territorywhose heartland was Asia Minor, the Near East and the Balkans.Inside these borders fashion trends could flow freely, carriedby people on the move, including Ottoman administrators,merchants of all possible religions and itinerant master builders.

The Ottoman Empire's architectural heritage includes also publicand religious buildings: mosques and türbes; kervansarays, bazaars

and baths, drinking fountains and a particularly characteristic styleof bridge.

Ottoman architecture originated in the old capitals of Bursaand Edirne, springing from the heritage of the earlier buildingtraditions of Byzantium, the Seljuk Empire, the Mamluks and Iran.The picturesque manner of construction of the earliest Ottomanbuildings made of stone and bricks, for example, was borrowed

from the Byzantines, who, in turn, building technique of the Romatypical of the refined architectur1703), was inspired by the dome ofSophia in Constantinople. Constru18th Century would not have beeinfluence of European Baroque.

Ottoman architecture is not a siconstruction influences were usespecific and recognisable architepeculiarities is the widespread useof public buildings – ranging from

Ottoman towns, too, possessed a trend noted by travellers from a


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Previouspage: Safranbolu, Turkey

1. Kastoria,Greece 2. Zlatograd,Bulgaria3. Mostar,BosniaandHerzegovina4. Prizren,Kosovo

Opposite page: OldPlovdiv.Themarvellousmansions in thestyle, known as Bulgarian RevivalPeriodarchitecture,area product of commonarchitectural development in theOttoman Empire

1 2

3 4


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SHABLA

LIGHTHOUSE WITH CRESCENT

Extreme geographical points seem to possess a peculiar

attraction – Cape Shabla, on Bulgaria's northern Black Sea coast,

is no exception. Bulgaria's easternmost point meets the sea with a

reef and a rusty iron quay on which cormorants sit.

The feeling of a place that stands at the edge of the land is

emphasised by a 32-metre-high tower painted in cheerful red

and white stripes. This is Shabla's lighthouse, the oldest surviving

one of its kind in Bulgaria. It was built in 1856-1857, though by the

second half of the 18th Century a lighthouse certainly existed on

this dangerous cape surrounded by shallows and underwater cliffs.

Even from a distance a telling detail on top

of the tower can be discerned – a crescent and

a star. The upper ray of the star is elongated,

gold-plated and pointing skywards.

A white oval with a red ornament embossed

on one of the walls explains the crescent.

The red ornament is the tuğra of Sultan

Abdülmecid I (1839-1861), the man on whose

orders the lighthouse at Shabla was built.

The sul tan deci ded to erect lighthouse s onthis part of the Black Sea coast in the 1850s.

The Crimean War of 1853-1856 was underway

and it was a time when new technologies were

rapidly making their way into everyday life.

The sultan wanted to keep abreast of the times

and encourage navigation in the Black Sea.

The t ask was entrusted to the French Compagnie des Phares

de l’Empire Ottoman. This company was to build and maintain

lighthouses in return for a 25-year concession on lighthouse fees.

Shabla's lighthouse was the first to be built. By 1866 the French

company had also built lighthouses on the capes of Kaliakra,

Varna and Galata. The modern lighthouses in these locations,

however, now bear no semblance to the originals.

On 31 March 1901 the northern Black Sea coast was struck by an

earthquake of 7.2 on the Richter scale. The lighthouses suffered

such severe damage that it was easier to rebuild them, except for

the one at Shabla.

It was damaged, but it was propped up using

iron supports, and repaired in 1934-1935, while

the area was part of Romania. The walls were

strengthened, a spiral staircase was added

inside the tower, and the old lantern was

replaced by the latest-generation Swedish

optics. The cheerful stripes on the light-house

date from this period.

Since then, the only major changes madeto the lighthouse have been to its optics

system, which was renewed in 1957 and

again in 1987. The tuğra and the crescent have

remained to remind us of the man who chose

to modernise his empire in an ever-changing

world.Sultan AbdülmecidI's tuğra


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DE

If you are looking for a place in

architecture and spirituality, De

your top choices. The saint's sto

cliffs of Kamenen Rid. Dense wo

türbe an object so exquisite that

you could hold in your hand.

Demir Baba's tekke is one of

in the Sboryanovo Archaeolog

türbe stands out from all of th

tomb with Caryatids, a UNESCO

it is the only monument in the res

same purpose since it was built in

Demir Baba, or the "Iron Father

honoured saint of a small and lit

Bulgaria – the Alevis.

Some 70,000 Alevis live in Bulg

villages in the Dobrudzha region

Rhodope. They are followers of a

version of Shiite Islam. Drinking

women do not cover their face

away from the eyes of the uninit

the true heir of Mohammed andinfallible heirs.

Alevism is esoteric and full of

those unfamiliar with it. What is

the number "12" and the rose are

of Alevi saints are heptagon-sha

on men's tombstones have seven

Left: Demir Baba’s grave.

Thes aint’s tombstoneis nearly 4metres longandis covered with gifts fromgratefulvisitors

Opposite page: Avasedrawingfromthewalls of the türbe.Demir Baba tekke was declaredacul tural monument in 1970


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The story of the Alevis' arriva

blank spots, hypotheses and le

popular version, Alevis used to

the Shiite Iran and the Sunn

states were in conflict, so the

Selim I (1512-1520) and Süleyma

move to depopulated areas in th

At times the Ottoman state pe

sages, however, had a special s

to the monastic order of the

confusingly – were Sunnis. Thu

Osman Baba and Ak Yazılı Baba

deeds being described in legend

visited by pilgrims.

Demir Baba was no exception

contemporary of Süleyman I. His

saint Ak Yazılı Baba, whose tekke l

near Varna.

Demir Baba was still young wh

saint he would become. Prior to

around the world and distinguis

and a skilled horseman. Demir

were terrorising the lands of the

helped the sultan seize control o

He then returned to his native v

disciples and started to preach

eloquent testimonies to Demir B

This is the karst spring called Ba

during an unprecedented droug

help. He put his hand into the roc

Başparmak has not been pipe

still believe it is sacred. A ritu

those entering the tekke to tak

their faces.

Demir Baba's türbe and the ol

complex are the only surviving s

complex that used to surroundpowers, however, is still strong

Christians. The largest number

the holiday celebrated as Hıdırel

Day by Christians.

The tekke is full of pointers to

and even superstitions. The saint


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of towels, shirts and socks, left there as gifts for prayers that

were answered. The trees in the surrounding area and even the

window bars of the türbe are decorated with colourful shreds of

cloth, tied there by people who believed this would bring them

health.

The stones in one of the walls of the complex are decorated

with mysterious carvings. Seven-pointed stars can be seen

on some of them. Hexagrams, which are known in mystical

teachings as the Seal of Solomon, are depicted on others.

Still others bear domed buildings, one of which is certainly a

mosque with a minaret. One of the stones in the wa ll attracts small

groups of visitors who, with eyes shut and arms outstretched, try

to find it and po ke their fingers into two holes k nown the Witch's

Eyes.

Demir Baba tekke had been a sacred site long before the

arrival of the Alevis. Archaeological excavations have not been

able to find proof to corroborate local legends of a Christianmonastery dedicated to St George beneath the tekke. However,

archaeologists have discovered that a Thracian sanctuary existed

there between the 4th Century BC and the 2nd Century AD. The

türbe was built literally on top of its remains and some of the

stones of the pagan sanctuary have been i ncorporated into the

walls of the Alevi shrine.

The most eloquent example is the huge stone block along one

of the türbe walls. Two thousand years ago the Thracians offered

sacrifices on it. Those who believe in Demir Baba's powers,

however, lie on it in the hope that it will br ing them health.

Top: Pilgrims tierags andpatches of clothingto the trees near thetekke in thebeliefthat theywillbereleasedof malaise

Above: On thestoneon which Thracians onceofferedsacrifices,visitors liedownto gain health andstrength


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One of these still considered to absolutely true, is that some ofthe pillars and many of the stones used in the construction of themosque were plundered from the ruins of the medieval Bulgariancapitals of Pliska and Preslav, several kilometres from Shumen.However, restorers have discovered that these claims are greatlyexaggerated. The stones built into the walls of the Tombul Mosquehad been carved especially for it and with such precision that the joints have not shifted position over the years.

The legend that policemen fired bullets at the inside of the domewas probably invented at the height of the forcible Bulgarianisationcampaign in the 1980s. The marks of bullet were said to be visibleamong the decorations on the ceiling, but restorers have foundthat the "holes" are, in fact, tacks fastening the plaster to the ceiling.The coats of paint that used to cover them gradually wore away,revealing the "shooting" marks.

One of the most recent myths about the mosque is the result ofthe mania for seeking hidden messages in buildings, inspired byDan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. According to this theory, the stonedecorations in one of the corners of the Tombul Mosque representthe secret symbol of a mystical society of initiates.

At first glance, the exquisite metropolitan architecture of theTombul Mosque seems improbable for an edifice built so far fromConstantinople, but when Halil Pasha started the construction ofthe küliye on the northern shore of the River Poroyna, Şumla was afar-from-insignificant town.

The origins of Shumen date from around the 12th Century BC,when a fortified settlement was built on a steep cliff on the ShumenPlateau. The fortress existed for several centuries, including duringthe years of Roman rule, and in the 12th-14th centuries became themajor urban centre of the region. The Ottomans had conquered

it by the end of the 14th Centurdemolished later by the army of Wduring his ill-fated anti-Ottoman c

The peace that was establishedsecond half of the 15th Century proof the ruined fortress to move towhere the city of Şumla originated

The oldest quarters of the city plateau as possible, on the banks18th centuries the city graduall


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Top:Generations of Shumen residents recalltheshoelocker at the TombulMosqueas a dullgreen-paintedshelf.When thepaint was removed,restorers

discoveredthat theoriginalpieceof furniturehadbeen finelydecoratedinthemid-19th Century

Above: Thedecorations in the mosquedatebackto two periods – thefirstlayer is fromthe timeof its construction,thesecondfromtherenovation inthemid-19th Century

Left: Asuperintendent at themosquehas madea modelof theTombulMosque andthe adjacent buildings of themadrasah,thefountain,thelibraryandtheelementaryschool.Themosqueis theonlysurviving küliye in Bulgaria


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The 18th Century, however, was the time when Şumla's appearancechanged dramatically. The Tombul Mosque was just a small part ofthe changes. A watchtower was built in 1740 on the opposite bankof the Poroyna. The entire city was surrounded by a massive wall,the Ottoman Empire having started to lose territories and the oncepeaceful and quiet Şumla was now too close to the border. Still,

the border location had some advantages as well. A 30,000-stronggarrison was stationed in the town and this military presencestimulated commerce. Despite being of strategic importance,Şumla was never attacked by the Russians in 1774, 1810 or 1829,when the Tsar's army raided this part of the Ottoman Empire.

When Konstantin Jireček visited Shumen in the 1880s, it still had

47 mosques, the walls were visible and the houses with their largegardens attracted the eye. "Turks and Christians here live well; theyused to live in separate neighbourhoods but have now mixed," theCzech historian wrote.

Over the next decades, however, Shumen's Ottoman heritagewas reduced to only a few remnants. The clock tower survived,

but the Sahat Mosque, which stood beside it, disappeared. Alsothe hamams and the walls vanished. The gloomy bedesten, which,according to some sources, was built by Dubrovnik merchants in1529, under Communism became a Corecom dollar shop.

Of the 47 mosques only one survived – the Tombul Mosque, themost beautiful in Bulgaria.


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KADIN BRIDGE

LEGENDS, MIRACLES EXPLAINCONSTRUCTION WORKS

The building inscription is explicit. The 100-metre-long five-arched stone bridge over the River Struma is the work of IshakPasha, Grand Vizier of Sultan Mehmed II (1451-1481). Ishak Pashabuilt the bridge in 1469/1470 to facilitate travel from Consta ntinopleto Skopje and the Western Balkans. Despite this, local stories aboutthe construction of the bridge passed down over the ages containno reminders of the name of the man who accomplished this nobledeed.

The elegant structure in the village of Nevestino, in the Kyustendilregion, is known by two names. One is Kadin Bridge, the otherNevestin Bridge. Although the root of the former is a Turkish wordand the latter a Bulgarian, both words mean the same: a marriedwoman.

The explanation is in a popular legend told about so manyOttoman bridges in the Balkans. Three local brothers started tobuild a bridge over the Struma, but the work did not go smoothly.Each night an unknown force kept pulling down everything theyhad built during the day, and every morning they had to start allover again.

Finally, the builders realised that what the future bridge

needed was a human sacrifice, so the three agreed to build intothe foundations of the bridge the first person that passed by thefollowing morning. The elder brothers told their wives about theagreement but the youngest decided to play fair. He kept silent andon the next morning his young wife came to the bridge to bringhim food.

Neither the builder nor his wife protested against their fate, andkept to the tradition. He "built" her into the bridge, and she askedhim to leave one of her breasts uncovered so she could breastfeedtheir child.

The bridge was soon completed.Although it appears in other areas as well, this legend has had an

enormous influence on the people of this region. The nearby villagewas named Nevestino, and in the 1880s Konstantin Jireček learnedthat breastfeeding women from the vicinity would break off smallpieces from a certain stone in the central arch of the bridge, boilthem in milk and drink the liquid in the belief this would boost theirown milk.

Jireček also heard another, much more amazing legend aboutthe building of the bridge, which claimed that it was self-built.A heavy iron rod, moving under its own force, broke pieces ofstone from the surrounding mountains. The rocks travelled to theconstruction site on their own, and took their places. When thebridge was complete, the stones that had not yet reached the riverfroze in their places. Local people said that the iron rod could stillbe seen on one of the hills outside the nearby town of Kyustendil.

Yet another myth about the bridge avoids miracles altogether.Sultan Murad – it is unclear which of the five rulers with thisname is referred to – was passing through the surrounding areaon his way to some war. A Bulgarian wedding party stood in hisway. The law required that the wedding guests turn aside from theroad to make way for the Padishah and his people. These wedding

guests, however, did not move sultan and bowed low before himPadishah offered her a gift. The yobe built at this spot and her wish w

A shadow of the past is indeeshadow of an epoch long beforeJireček examined the bridge he building had been incorporated


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CLOCK TOWERS

IN SEARCH OF FOUND TIME

"There is a clock on the other hill that counts the hours in the

French manner night and day," French traveller Lefèvre wrote,when he heard the sound of bells from the Sahat Tepe clock towerin Filibe, in 1611. The bell tower was made of wood at the time, butwas still impressive, and over the next centuries several generationsof travellers expressed their admiration for it.

The clock tower in Filibe was something that could be seen

neither in Edirne nor in the Asian part of the empire, not evenin Constantinople. Even in the Balkans, clock towers were nota usual sight. Of those dating from the same period, only thetower in Skopje, built before 1573, and possibly the one in Bitola,are older.

It is impossible to say when the clock tower in Plovdiv was built.It probably happened at the end of the 16th or the beginning ofthe 17th Century. The original tower was destroyed in a fire at thestart of the 19th Century and was replaced by the tall building withstone foundations that still exists today. However, the clockworkmechanism, made by an Italian craftsman, has been preserved andstill works.

Another clock tower, the one in Provadia, was built in the 17thCentury. The fashion for clock towers, or sahat kulesi , spreadthrough the Balkans in the 18th Century, and in these years some20 appeared in towns such as Melnik, Rustchuk, Peshtera, Etropole,Tatar Pazarcık, Şumla, Karlovo, Hezargrad, or today's Razgrad,Berkofça, or present-day Berkovitsa, Zlatitsa, Selvi, or modernSevlievo, and Dryanovo.

The clock tower in Svishtov is among the most interesting onesfrom that period. The original building inscriptions are still on its

walls and show that the clock tower was built in 1765/1766 in thetown market by one Hussein Ağa. In 1859/1860 it was renovated bythe wealthy Hadji Abdullah Ağa, who immortalised his good deedin a long poem.

In the 19th Century the construction of clock towers becameeven more popular and spread to the Ottoman capital and the


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Asian territories of the empire. Clock towers were also built inBulgarian towns including Nevrokop, now Gotse Delchev, Gabrovo,Sliven, Elena, Tryavna, Haskovo, Vratsa and Sofia. According tosome estimates, in 1878 there were some 100 clock towers in theterritory of present-day Bulgaria.

The clock towers built in the years of Ottoman rule have oftenbeen described as a manifestation of local construction genius.Indeed, they have a particular architectural shape, and there arereports that many 19th Century towers were made by Bulgarianmaster builders, compounding the question which is whose.

There is no information about the earliest clock towers, whichappeared in towns with mixed populations, such as Plovdiv andProvadia. Clock towers from later periods are recorded both intowns with an entirely Bulgarian population, such as Tryavna orElena, as well as in towns with significant minorities of Greeks, suchas Melnik, or Muslims, such as Dupnitsa.

It is still not clear why the construction of clock towers in theOttoman Empire spread from the Balkans. A possible explanationcan be found in the European influence and the advancedcraftsmanship in this part of the empire. Throughout Europe, clocktowers marked the transition from the Middle Ages to moderntimes. Before their advent, the rhythm of town life wa s set by the sunand the moon – people went to work at dawn and returned homeat dusk. This changed forever with the chimes of clock towers. Thesound of the bells divided time into equal lengths, which did notdepend on whether it was day or night. Gradually, people started tolisten to the clock and to fix their working schedules in accordancewith the hours.

It is not by chance that clock towers were located in town centres,in markets or on a height from which the sound of the bells couldbe heard far away.

Clock towers had other functions as well. The tower in Plovdiv, forexample, was also a fire watch and the one in Shumen had a waterfountain built into its wall.

Some clock towers began their existence as defensive works,such as the Meshchii Tower in Vratsa. It was built in the 15thto 16th centuries but became a clock tower only at the end of

the 19th Century.Bells and clockwork mechanisms tell their own stories. In the

1820s, the English diplomat Strangford reported that the bell on thetower in Razgrad had an inscription in Hungarian saying that it hadbeen cast in 1731 in Banat. Konstantin Jireček says that the now-disappeared tower in Kyustendil had a bell which, according to its

Cyrillic inscription, had been cast in 1429 for a church dedicated toSt Nikolas. Some reports claim that the clockwork mechanism of thetower in Samokov, which has been demolished, was manufacturedin 1630 in Dalmatia.

After 1878 things changed. Konstantin Jireček, for example,reports that the bell for the clock tower in Zlatitsa was cast in 1777especially for the clockwork mechanism, but was later moved tothe local church.

Some 50 clock towers have survived in Bulgaria to this day. Someof them are original, others have been restored, and still others havebeen entirely rebuilt. There are also some curious cases. The clocktower in Haskovo was pulled down in 1916 and a modern tower wasbuilt on the same site in 1985. The clockwork mechanism from theoriginal tower is kept in the local history museum, and is said to bestill in working order.

Previousspread: Clocktowers in Dupnitsa,1

Clocktowers in Etropole,1710(leftpage) an


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Theol dest clocktower in Bulgariais on Sahatheend of the16th or thebeginning of the17thebuildinginscription (3) was completely reDobrich, 18th Century ( 2),Svishtov, 1765/176


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Clocktowers in Sevlievo,1777(above) andBotevgrad, 1866


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ended towards the turn of the 17th Century, and the latter years ofthe empire is rarely made. Few speak objectively about the factthat generations of Christians lived peacefully under the Ottomans,

bore children, brought up their families and created materialwealth. A total, all-out confrontation between the subjugatedChristians and the Ottoman authorities was never likely to happen.

In the case of Bulgaria these stereotypes are particularlynegative and particularly enduring, and it is not difficult to seewhy. The Bulgarians were the first to fall under the Ottomans atthe end of the 14th Century and among the last to gain nationalindependence at the end of the 19th Century. The Bulgariannational psyche is deeply imbued with the images of the "yoke"and "slavery," described vividly by the best names in 19th and 20thCentury Bulgarian literature. Collective memories of the strugglefor national independence are still alive, while those from the firstphases of the Ottoman conquest have faded.

Few Bulgarians would be aware of the fact that the "Fatherof Bulgarian Literature," Ivan Vazov, described the years underOttoman rule in a very nuanced fashion. On the one hand, hepainted in brutal detail the scenes of suffering following the bloodyquashing of the 1876 April Uprising. On the other hand, however, hespoke lovingly of the paternal family, of the merry evenings spentunder the vines and behind the thick stone courtyard walls, of theendless discussions and disputes in the coffee-houses and so on.

This sums up the ambiguity towards their Ottoman heritage in theeyes of modern Bulgarians.

Professional historians, unlike those just interested in popularhistory, are able to offer a more multifaceted picture of the longOttoman period in the Bulgarian lands. The original conquest wasinevitably accompanied by bloodshed, destruction, enslavement

and persistent psychological trauma. Speaking of the loss ofhuman life, however, it would do history an injustice not to takeinto consideration the fact that Europe at that time was gripped

by the "Black Death." This accounted for the demise of a third of allChristians living in Europe, so it should be a factor to be consideredwhen calculating the losses stemming from the onslaught ofthe Ottomans.

Following the establishment of Ottoman power in the Bulgarianlands and the relocation of the theatre of war to the West and theNorth West, a long period of peace and stability ensued. Bulgarianmen of letters of that epoch were quick to see the positive sidesof the Ottomans and made no attempt to conceal their approvalof Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror (1444-1446, 1451-1481). Whatthey did fail to note – but what later authors analysed in detail –was that one of the building blocks of the Ottoman Empire was theabsorption of the local Christian populations into farming, the taxsystem and the various spheres of social life.

As noted Turkish historian Halil İnalcık rightly noted, Ottomanstructures had a markedly conservative character. The Bulgarians,as well as the other conquered Christian nations within the empire,became a part of the Ottoman imperial system and had their shareof the glories of its "classical" years. To put it another way, thesuccessful military campaigns of the Ottoman Empire in Europe,North Africa and Asia would have been impossible without the

contribution of the tax-paying Bulgarians and other Christians,without the output of their iron, gold, lead and silver mines, withoutthe services of many Christians, including Bulgarians, who enjoyeda special status in the Ottoman system.

Again, nothing was black and white in the clash between theChristian and Muslim civilisations. The Bulgarians in particular were

deeply traumatised by the bloothousands of Bulgarian children w Janissaries or Ottoman clerks, wi

highest levels of the Ottoman statGenerally, the Ottoman system so-called Pax Ottomana period. Thmilitary successes came to an end athe Ottoman Empire had fallen hoof technology.

The later centuries of the empirecrisis that had a profound effect oauthorities were unable to maintsecurity and economic prosperityanarchy, arbitrary taxation and ouhad become the rule rather than t

All of this led to a desire to gewas confined to a limited circle but in the middle of the 19th national liberation movement. Tthe increasing repressions led that lingered in Bulgaria even independence in 1878.

The crisis of the Ottoman Empalone. The Muslim subjects of the

as well, and some of the most proOttoman authority conceived winitiatives to overthrow the sultanits founder and leader Mustafa Ka revolutionary breach with theOttoman heritage.

a guide to ottoman bulgaria en

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