The Metropolitan Artistic School of Tărnovo and its influence on the development of arts in the Balkans / Şcoala artistică metropolitană din Tărnovo ?i influen?a ei în dezvoltarea artelor în Balcani

Like everywhere else, the originality of a civilization is given by its capacity to coagulate in certain referential administrative centers its cultural and artistic essence. This is what happened in the case of the Second Bulgarian Empire too. Moreover, the tsars' residence from Tărnovo shortly became the vital center of a young and eager for affirmation civilization. The cultural and artistic development of the metropolis on the river Iantra was also possible due to the import of excellent Byzantine artistic capabilities that invaded the peninsula after the conquest of Constantinople in 1204. The Byzantine influence put its print on the foundation of a metropolitan artistic school, while later the infusion of Byzantine, oriental, occidental and Slavic-Bulgarian influences cooperated in elaborating an autochthonous style, with a pronounced folk character, hence its originality. The artistic style of Tărnovo influenced more or less other artistic styles in the perimeter of the Empire so that in the end a national Bulgarian school resulted from the blending and under the influence of local artistic schools, but without interfering with the development of the other local artistic centers.