Title: Tirnovo (since 1965 “VelikoTărnovo”) From Medieval Bulgarian Capital to Turkish Islamic Cultural Centre. A general overview
Author(s): Machiel KIEL
Journal: SHEDET(Annual Peer-Reviewed Journal Issued By The Faculty Of Archaeology, Fayoum University)
Issue: 4 Date: 2017
Pages: 115-131
Cite as: Machiel KIEL. (2017). Tirnovo (since 1965 “VelikoTărnovo”) From Medieval Bulgarian Capital to Turkish Islamic Cultural Centre.A general overview.SHEDET(Annual Peer-Reviewed Journal Issued By The Faculty Of Archaeology, Fayoum University), 4 (2017) pp. 115-131. https://doi.org/10.36816/shedet.004.08


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tirnovo (since 1965 “VelikoTărnovo”) From Medieval Bulgarian Capital to Turkish Islamic Cultural Centre.A general overview

Machiel KIEL

VelikoTărnovo, the former historical city of Tirnovo, today is the capital of a province (Okrăg) in N.E. Bulgaria. Tirnovo is located on the Yantra River and is famously known as the historical capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire. The subject matter research is exploring the history, art and architecture of Tirnovo through ages; and specifically during the Ottoman times (1393-1878), when became an Islamic cultural centre. Tirnovo grew quickly, between the 12th and 14th centuries, to become the strongest Bulgarian fortification of the Middle Ages, and the most important political, economic, cultural and religious centre of the Second Bulgarian Empire. In the 14th century, as the Byzantine Empire weakened, Tirnovo claimed to be the “Third Rome”, based on its influential cultural aspect in Eastern Europe. This paper discusses the development of population, architecture and cultural of Tirnovo in Ottoman times. It was a flourished centre of Islamic culture, with considerable examples of almost all known types of ottoman buildings.