Although through the eyes of a modern person - anticipating the past through the perceptions and ‎imagination of our time, we can get immersed in a period of Bulgarian history, in which Bulgaria was ‎situated on three seas and its culture was flourishing. The Museum of Silicone Figures in the town ‎of Veliko Tarnovo offers us a journey in the Middle Ages with the help of original sculptures ‎and murals.‎

Located at the foot of the Tsarevets fortress in the medieval capital of Bulgaria, the Tsarevgrad ‎Tarnov multimedia visitor centre presents historical events and personalities from the Second ‎Bulgarian Kingdom. The greatness of the rulers and their military power, the spiritual uplift thanks ‎to the scribes who restored the books destroyed during the Byzantine rule, the development of ‎painting and craftsmanship - all this is told by the picturesque scenes recreated with the help of 65 ‎silicone figures.‎

‎"The exhibits refer to the period from the 12th to the 14th century when Tarnovgrad - that's what ‎the town was called then, was the capital of Bulgaria," says tour guide Svetla Yordanova.  “Tourists ‎can see the wooden bed, the small chairs, the home-made bread made by the hostess from not so ‎good quality flour. Here are also the reconstructions of the altar or the most holy part of a church ‎and of part of a boyar dwelling."‎

Among the most remarkable scenes are the end of the Battle of Adrianople in 1205, when Tsar ‎Kaloyan captured the Latin Emperor Baldwin of Flanders, as well as the coronation of the Bulgarian ‎ruler by Cardinal Leo III sent by Pope Innocent. The throne room of Tsar Ivan Asen II, presented ‎together with his wife Irina Komnina and the Bulgarian Patriarch, also draws visitors’ amazement.‎

‎"You can also see a boyar family who were church donors”,  adds tour guide Iva Robova.  “The scene depicts the ‎donation for the construction of many churches and monasteries. Next comes a reconstruction of ‎the scriptorium - the place where books were written in the Middle Ages."‎

The museum also takes us to a street of medieval craftsmen where a potter sculpts a ceramic ‎vessel, a blacksmith sharpens a sword, and masons build a stone edifice.‎

The idea to visualize the life of representatives of the different layers of the medieval Bulgarian ‎society was the work of the sculptor Boris Borisov. In the only museum of its kind in the Balkans, ‎the life-size figures are created from a special silicone material that is used in the cinema and ‎resembles the appearance of human skin. 

Eye prostheses were used for the eyes, eyebrows, ‎eyelashes, beards and hair were woven in hair by hair, and the clothes and equipment were ‎handmade by the author and his 20-member team.‎

A few months ago, 37 new exhibits were added to the museum's collection of 28 exhibits. The first ‎scene of the museum's expansion recreates the Battle of Klokotnitsa, in which the Bulgarian troops ‎defeated the Epirus ruler Theodore Komnenos, capturing him and his family.‎

The composition "Farewell to Patriarch Euthymius" with the image of an old man leaning on ‎crutches, who came with his granddaughter to say goodbye to the clergyman, is heartbreaking.‎

‎"This is a tragic scene depicting how Tarnovo residents were bidding farewell to their Patriarch whom the ‎Turks took into exile after the fall of Tarnovo”, says Boris Borisov.  “The moment in which people ‎ask him: "To whom are you leaving us, Bishop?" is recreated, and he answers: "I leave you in the ‎hands of the Holy Trinity now and forever." Many artists have worked on this theme, but what we ‎have tried to do is to convey the dramatic power, the hopelessness of the event, of the condition ‎of the people. However, it is very important that one does not overdo the gesticulation - not to ‎become too theatrical, but to feel this subtle nuance of the emotional states."‎

And since lately we are teetering in extreme states and tend to turn events and personalities of the ‎past into kitsch, the sculptor sends a message: "The goal here is not some over-patriotic things. ‎However, we should not forget the glorious history of this town.”‎

Photos: BGNES, Zdravka Maslyankova

Written by Diana Tsankova (based on an interview of Zdravka Maslyankova, BNR correspondent in Veliko Tarnovo)