2025 Bulgaria & Serbia: Medieval Fresco hunting across Balkan Churches
Open
May 24-Jun 7, 2025
Archaeology, Art History, Conservation
Dr. Vassil Tenekedjiev & Mr. Ivan Vasilev
$3,050
April 4, 2025
Apr 13, 2025 at 11:30am Pacific Time
4 Semester Credit Units
OVERVIEW
Between the 14th & 17th centuries CE, the Balkans experienced troubling, violent times. The Byzantine Empire, the Second Bulgarian Empire and the Serbian Empire collapsed in the 15th century, and the Ottoman Empire conquered Southeastern Europe. The many wars, and the accompanying social and political upheavals, had a direct impact on the expression of Christian Orthodox practice and iconography. During this Late Medieval period, Christian Orthodox structures were built to attract the least attention, with humble architecture on the outside, but with exquisite frescos inside.
In the past 100 years, many of these structures were abandoned and fell into misuse and disrepair. Some have been looted – first during the Ottoman Empire by either Muslim Turks or superstitious local Christians – and then by modern looters and vandals. Many structures are collapsing due to the impact of weather and lack of maintenance. These important cultural heritage monuments are disappearing. This program is part of a long term project to document these Christian Orthodox structures and preserve their heritage for future generations – in photographic and digital format at a minimum and raise public awareness of state recognition and legal preservation when possible.
The Fresco-Hunting Photo Research Expedition systematically documents abandoned medieval churches and chapels – and their frescos – in western Bulgaria and Serbia. Students will take part in this process and will gain context and understanding of Christian Orthodox iconography through visitation to several churches, monasteries, museums, and archaeological sites in these two countries. Thus far, the Fresco-Hunting Photo Research Expedition has been successful in raising public awareness and three sites have now been formally designated as official state monuments and protected under the law – Balsha, Kalotina, and Zimevitsa. In 2017, the Balkan Heritage Foundation issued the first e-book dedicated to one of the churches – the 17th century church St. Thedore Tyro in Zimevitsa. We are now working, and students in this program will take part in collecting more data for the publication of more of these churches and chapels.
Preparing illustrations of frescos
The main cathedral of Sofia
Ducumenting frescos
Drwing plan of frescos
Visiting a medieval monastery
Medieval frescos
Photographing frescos
Documenting frescos
Instructors
All field school directors are experts in their field and passionate about their work. To discuss the suitability of this program for your career goals – whether within or outside academia – you are invited to contact the directors directly. For a broader discussion which CFS program to choose, you are welcome to contact our staff directly – you can do that through our “Contact Us” page.
Dr. Vassil Tenekedjiev
Varna Regional Museum of History
Mr. Ivan Vasilev
Balkan Heritage Foundation
Testimonials
This is a new CFS program. No student evaluations are available.
student fees (tuition)
what is covered
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DEPOSIT IS PART OF TOTAL TUITION COST
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Costs of Instruction
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Room & Board
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Cost of Academic Credit Units
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Cost of Health & Liability Insurance
read before you pay
- Application: You must apply online for this program – application is free
- Deposit: A $300 nonrefundable deposit (part of the total tuition cost) is required to secure a space in the program
- Credit Card Fee: Payments with credits cards incur 2.5% processing fee
- Late Fee: A $100 Late Fee will be added to the program costs if tuition is not paid in full by payment deadline
- Cancelation Policy: Carefully read our Cancelation Policy before committing to attend our programs
- Trip cancellation Insurance: Trip cancellation insurance is not provided by CFS. Such policies have changed due to Covid 19. If you wish to purchase an insurance policy that covers pandemic contingencies, explore Cancel for Any Reason (CFAR) plans. Insuremytrip or Travel Guard are possible websites where you may explore different insurance policies
Accommodations
Students will reside at the Hotel Zheravna in Sofia (Bulgaria) and at and Hotel Happy in Dimitrovgrad (Serbia).
diet
Three meals per day are provided by the program. Meals usually take place in the hotel restaurant, except the brown-bag lunches, when we are visiting sites across western Bulgaria and Serbia. This program can accommodate vegetarian diets.
travel information
We suggest you hold purchasing airline tickets until six (6) weeks before the program begins. Natural disasters, political changes, weather conditions & a range of other factors may require the cancelation this field school. CFS typically makes a final Go/No Go decision about six weeks before the field school begins. To protect students from potential financial loss, we urge students to purchase airline tickets only six weeks prior to program beginning.
Students should plan to fly to the Sofia International Airport (SOF). The meeting point is at Hotel Zheravna, at 7:00pm on the first day of the program. Transfer from Sofia Airport international arrival to the hotel may be arranged and will be discussed during the online orientation (see above).
visa information
There are no special visa requirements for U.S. citizen travelling to Bulgaria, as long as they do not stay longer than 3 months. Passport’s expiration date should exceed the stay by at least 3 months.
Citizens of other countries are asked to check the embassy website page at their home country for specific visa requirements.
Meeting Point
| Date | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|
| May 24, 2025 | 7:00pm | Hotel Zheravna, Sofia (Bulgaria) |
Safety
Our primary concern is with education. Traveling and conducting field work involves risk. Students interested in participating in our programs must weigh whether the potential risk is worth the value of education provided. While risk is inherent in everything we do, we do not take risk lightly. We engage in intensive review of each field school location prior to approval. Once a program is accepted, we review and monitor each program annually to make sure it complies with all our standards and policies, including student safety.
Students attending our international programs are covered by a comprehensive Health Insurance policy that includes physical illness or injury, mental or chronic conditions. There are no deductible and 100% of costs are covered up to $250,000. In addition, we provide Political & Natural Disaster Evacuation policy, which allow us to remove students from program location if conditions change.
Students attending our domestic programs (within the US) must have their own health insurance and provide proof upon enrollment. Program directors are familiar with local authorities and if in need of evacuation, local emergency services and/or law enforcement will be notified and activated.
We have an explicit and robust harassments & discriminations policies. If students feel they cannot discuss personal safety issues with program staff, they are welcome to call the CFS emergency hotline and talk directly with CFS staff members.
Call (+1 562 584-0761) or email (info@fieldsciences.org) if you have questions about the safety of any program.