Preslav Literary School


Preslav Literary School - Definition

Ceramic icon of St. Theodor, Preslav, ca. 900 AD, National Archaelogical Museum, Sofia

The Preslav Literary School (Pliska Literary School) was the first literary school in Bulgaria. It was established by Boris I in 885 or 886 in Bulgaria's capital, Pliska. In 893, Simeon I moved the seat of the school from Pliska to Bulgaria’s new capital, Preslav.

The Preslav Literary School was the most important literary and cultural centre of Bulgaria and all Slavs until the capture and burning of Preslav by the Byzantine Emperor John I Tzimisces in 972. A number of prominent Bulgarian writers and scholars worked at the school, including Naum of Preslav (until 893), Konstantin Preslavski, Joan Ekzarh, Chernorizetz Hrabar, etc.

The school was also a centre of translation, mostly of Byzantine authors, as well as of poetry, painting and painted ceramics. The school is likely to have had a key role for the development of the Cyrillic alphabet, as the earliest Cyrillic inscriptions have been found in the area of Preslav (see also Cyrillic alphabet).

See also