Study on Bulgarian Architectural Heritage

Application area: Historic studies and dating of sites belonging to the Bulgarian historic heritage The work is the outcome of a long-lasting study of the author who is an expert in the field of housing construction and construction engineering and equipment.

The work marks the beginning of a new vision on Bulgarian architectural heritage specifically related to constructing buildings and their elements. Up to now, housing construction issues have not been considered comprehensively from the perspective of their development across time and no effort has been made to bring together the separate facts into an integral picture.

The study aims to fill in this gap and determine:

• the sequence and consistency in the development of housing construction in Bulgaria and rele-vant division into periods
• dating the initial emergence of new construction techniques and new construction elements in our country in view of identifying the place our housing construction occupies in the region and in Europe, as well as find out specific influences and highlight inventive and creative achievements.
• the contribution to the general history of architecture in Bulgaria
• new criteria for dating architectural sites lacking reliable records and information.

The goals set have been fulfilled – relevant periodization and systematization are in place; innovative achievements have been outlined representing significant contribution to the architecture of the region; new dating has been proposed for buildings as part of the architectural heritage challenging conventional views and opinions, in certain cases within two centuries.

The work is grouped in three sections from a historic point of view:

1. The period from the 7th to 16th century (Middle Ages, provisionally)

2. The period of transition from the Middle Ages to the New Times, 17th-19th century (the Bulgarian Renaissance, provisionally)

3. The period from the Liberation to the Second World War, 19th-20th century (New Times, provisionally)

The work will be of use to architects, archaeologists and other specialists involved in various issues of architectural heritage in Bulgaria and in the region.

Source: http://www.bas.bg/