Bulgarian Revival art

An unpublished until now icon of SS. Cyril and Methodius from the Holy Ascension Church in Shumen, painted in 1896 by the local iconographer Nikola Vassilev, has preserved an unusual representation of the old Bulgarian capital Veliki Preslav. Instead of the fictitious landscape of the Great city of St. Tsar Boris Mikhail in its majesty from the ninth century, typical for the iconography of the saints during the second half of nineteenth century, the iconographer has depicted on the background a contemporary view of the city, complemented with several imaginary historical elements.     
Nikola Vassilev made a substantial contribution to the development of the iconography of the Equal to Apostles SS. Cyril and Methodius Teachers of Slavs, by interpreting in a unique way the most popular at that time Viennese model of their icons. In 1885, he was the first Bulgarian iconographer who placed scene with the Baptism of St. Tsar Boris in the midst of the iconographic composition. Over the next decade, he continued to develop the story in his own artistic way; while in 1896, he made it even further, portraying the old capital Veliki Preslav through a realistic urban landscape, combined with curious details.   
Here we suggest that most likely this unique artistic manner of representation was a result of an apparent ambition of the local author in the last decades of his life to build up and establish his name as a modern artist and painter. Elaborating a style of his own, Nikola Vassilev seemed to us like telling the story of the Great city of Preslav from the ninth to the nineteenth century, and his icon from the Holy Ascension Church can be rightfully referred as the crown of his distinctive way of reading the story of life and deeds of SS. Cyril and Methodius.