We left the gloomy Black Sea this morning and drove along a very speedy motorway before heading off into the mountains, up and up and up through the trees with in their fresh spring colours.
We stopped for luncn in Elena, a small town full of wooden houses from the National Revival period. What’s that you ask? As far as we can make out, it started in 1762 from the church when a monk (Paisli) wrote a history of the Bulgarian people to remind them of their past glories. (You’ll remember that they were under Ottoman rule at this time.) By 1870, Bulgaria was granted an autonomous church – the Bulgarian Exarchate and that spurred on hopes for political freedom.
Churches which had been destroyed under the Ottomans were rebuilt and domestic architecture developed featuring a lot of woodwork and murals.
We visited the church, which required a very nice man to open it with an enormous key:
The church was a sixteenth century structure (notice, no tower because of the Ottoman preference for religious buildings keeping a low profile), rebuilt around 1805 after it was destroyed by raiding Kurdzhaliya (people living in Bulgaria but protected by the Ottomans).
It was completely covered in frescoes:
As we left town, we were astonished to see a hillside covered in beehives, so screeched to a halt for the obligatory photo shoot.
And then I noticed the two women up in the top right hand corner, smoking out the bees while they removed the honeycomb. Thank goodness for zoom lenses.
And no, the shop wasn’t open – but I’m sure there’ll be more honey opportunities to come.
Keys, bees, frescoes – I have finally caught up with your fascinating tales. The stone on the bottom, wood on top houses reminded me of one of our own…
M has shown me the picture from Zambia – yes, stone/ wood combo with added Frank Lloyd Wright I think? Big hugs to you. Sxx
Xx
Looks great! I remember the churches in Bulgaria – they are pretty amazing in terms of ikons, murals etc. It looks very peaceful outside as well. And the hives are just great!
Gxx
Gabriele Griffin
Professor of Gender Research
Director of Graduate Studies
Uppsala University
email: gabriele.griffin@gender.uu.se
Coordinator: Nordic Centre of Excellence ‘Beyond the Gender Paradox’ http://www.gender.uu.se/nordwit (2017-2022)
Extraordinary Professor, Centre for Gender and African Studies, University of the Free State, South Africa
Recent publications
Our new book, Gender Inequalities in Tech-driven Research and Innovation: Living the Contradictionhttps://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/gender-inequalities-in-tech-driven-research-and-innovation is now out and available Open Access from Bristol University Press. https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/women-in-supramolecular-chemistry
Griffin, G. (2022) ‘The “Work-Work Balance” in higher education: between over-work, falling short and the pleasures of multiplicity’, Studies in Higher Education
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2021.2020750.
Griffin, G. (2021) ‘Feminizing innovation: challenges in science and technology studies (STS)’, Feminist Encounters 5(2): 24. ISSN: 2468-4414. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/11161.
Churches great as long as guides avoided ( which we have managed so far) – there’s only so many times I can have St. Jerome explained… still waiting to taste the honey from the hives.
Frescos are fantastic and who’d have guessed that’s what you’d find behind that rather drab exterior. If it wasn’t for the stone entrance arch (and the gravestones propped up against the wall) , it would be quite at home in a german suburb.
Yes, you’re so right. We’ve seen a few let’s get below the Ottoman sight line churches – they all seem just a tad buttressed? Is that even a verb?
Those frescos are breathtaking and I love the multi coloured beehives. Much more amazing sights than I expected. As usual, great photos. Irene
They were lovely – the next church we went to wouldn’t allow a single, non flash, totally private picture. I blame the patriarchy ( always have – why stop now?).
Magical, the way you show these fantastically coloured treasures springing out of unexpected places. (Thanks for the video, btw!) The key alone could be in a fairy tale. I wonder if those beehives are collectively owned?
Such a lovely spot and the guy who showed us around was really nice. In terms of the beehives, my apiarist Bulgarian no better than my Masonic – and this women were smokingly engaged…
[…] of our blog will already know about Bulgarian National Revivalism – for everyone else, check out the previous explanation. Turns out the old town of Plovdiv is full of wonderful examples, both restored and unresurrected: […]