Petar Parvanov (MON Fellow, Oct ‘23 – Jul ‘24) will give his first talk on:

Battlefield Archaeology of the Ottoman Conquest: Landscape, Heritage, Memory

on 14 December (Thursday), at 16:30 h.

Moderated by Ivo Strahilov.

Abstract: Nothing quite captures the historical imagination like warfare. And very few stories of conquest can match the Ottoman military expansion from Gallipoli to Vienna and its consolidation of power over the Balkan peninsula. The long-term cultural impact combined with the immediate political and social consequences of individual conflicts are a defining part of the heritage in the region. Considering the accumulation of victories by the new non-Christian power, the international repercussions of the Ottoman conquest were immediately recognized in the medieval period. Even today, the national narratives in the post-Ottoman world evoke strong reactions among professionals and the wider public alike.

With few early exceptions, the sites of military engagement were left largely unexplored by archaeological means. In my project I try to reassess earlier research and cultural management practices applied to these specific foci of historical interaction and offer a more theoretically-informed understanding of their significance.

In this talk I will outline the conceptual and methodological basis of my project as well as offering some preliminary findings. The approach will be illustrated with a detailed case study on the battle near Varna in AD1444. The battle is best known for the defeat of the crusade forces and the death of the Polish-Hungarian king Vladislav. Today, a memorial park in the name of the deceased king is dedicated to these events.