The material and symbolic presence of Cyril and Methodius’s work in the Bulgarian monumental landscape: affirming and removing the past

This chapter deals with the material presence of Saints Cyril and Methodius in the everyday life of Bulgarians. It will be maintained that the two Slavic apostles represent one of the most important pillars of Bulgarian national identity and that, by virtue of their work in creating the Slavonic alphabet (the Glagolitic script from which Cyrillic was later derived), they occupy a prominent role in the materiality of the country’s cultural space. This is evident both in their visible representation through statues and other monuments, and in their commercialization through consumer goods and gadgets for locals and tourists. Cyril and Methodius are the most revered saints in the Bulgarian Church, and their national holiday on May 24, established in the early nineteenth century, has been uninterruptedly celebrated to this day. Nevertheless, as I will argue, the ubiquitous presence of Saint Cyril and Methodius and of their work as a way to affirm the prestige of Bulgarian cultural tradition stands in great contrast to the exclusion of the narratives, identities and cultural contribution of the Turkish and Muslim communities in the material culture of the country.