About one ruller’s fresco painting from the excavations of the Church “St. 40 Martyrs” in Veliko Tarnovo

Authors:

Pages: 123-127

Abstract:

In 2004 frescos in three lime pits and one mortar mixer in the northern yard of the church “St. 40 Martyrs” are found great deal of fragmented murals. May be considered with certainty, that the pictural art fragments, found in pits, lime pits and mixers from the north of the temple, were filled up during the main reconstruction of the church. This will say, that this material is associated with the first fresco painting of the temple in 1230. In the article, before all, we pay attention to one image, which is related to a church-donor‘s composition or a ruler’s portrait. This image, discovered and supplemented with new parts in the process of discrimination, bears the brightest marks of the nature and style of the first fresco painting of the church. 24 parts of the image under consideration are found. The middle part of the face of a man is preserved, with the nose, lips and beard, the silhouette of the hair-style and also a crown of cross-metal collars and gold-lace matter. The head is embraced by a nimbus, which suggests, that if the image is of a secular person, as it appears, it is of the Bulgarian ruler. In the case it is certain, that we are facing a rulers’ image, that can be identified with the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Asen II, who had built thoroughly and fresco-painted to the end the temple “St. 40 Martyrs”. This, though fragmented, the image complements the imagination for the church-donor’s portrait in the Medieval Bulgaria and furthermore, the identification with the royal image of Ivan Asen II is a valuable source for the Bulgarian history.

Keywords:

frescos, excavations, the Church “St. 40 Martyrs”, town of Veliko Tarnovo, royal image, donor’s portrait, tsar Ivan Asen II, Medieval Bulgaria

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