ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the early stages of the emergence of the so-called ‘national style’ in Bulgarian architecture at the turn of the twentieth century. It explores the first attempts to define this style in the architectural competition for the unbuilt Museum of the Bulgarian Revival (1900–1). Debates centred on definitions of ‘Bulgarian’ versus ‘Byzantine’ and the choice of historical heritage to be used as sources of inspiration and imitation. The controversy aroused by the project opened up discussions about the patrimonialization of medieval and early modern architecture and the processes of ‘discovering’ and selecting appropriately ‘authentic’ architectural models. While the competition jury considered Byzantine models to be the proper foundation for a ‘national’ style of architecture in an Orthodox country, the more progressive architectural community advocated inclusion of the vernacular architectural motifs of the Bulgarian Revival (Vazrazhdane). Debates around how to nationalize the recent past and give it modern architectural form thus threw up interesting issues regarding the periodization of the national artistic heritage. While ostensibly commemorating liberation from the Ottoman yoke, the architectural self-searching initiated by the museum project ultimately reified the final period of Turkish occupation as valid source material for a Bulgarian ‘national style’.
