Corpus of Murals of the First Half of the Nineteenth Century is hot off the press

This new in a row Corpus comes out as a result of the research into the wall-painting programmes of churches of the first half of the nineteenth century in what is now Bulgaria, conducted by a team of experts from the Institute of Art Studies, BAS and associates from universities and museums across the country. The voluminous book (900 pp., 1,200 pictures of monuments) is the outcome of a three-year project funded by the Bulgarian National Science Fund (BNSF), Ministry of Education and Science. The Corpus contains 52 mural monuments, presented in entries for each of them. The Corpus is prefaced by a general study featuring over 40 other painted churches. The registry of the churches provides systemised information about the mural monuments painted by a certain icon-painter, seeking to make it easier for readers to find data of the work of a particular artist. The book has an iconographic index in Bulgarian and English to help foreign experts find particular subjects or representations of saints.
Part of the Corpora series compiled by the Department of Fine Arts and dealing with the mural decoration in the Bulgarian lands of the pre-modern age, the book draws on the experience gained until now, being for the moment the most voluminous work on the matter and adding in its content a number of innovations to the format of presenting monuments. The latest edition is dedicated o the eightieth anniversary of Corr. Mem. Prof. Elka Bakalova.