Macedonian church bell

[Stevce]

Check this out guys.

https://www.facebook.com/Egejska/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10151378945108670&hc_location=ufi

[Niko777]

A bell from a church in a village in Serbia near the Bulgarian border.

The bell dates from 1834 and the maker (majstor) stamped his trademark on it as G.D. Aleksov from the village of Gorno Brodi, Seresko, Macedonia.

What makes this bell significant is that it's an artifact confirming that people at that time had a deep desire for a Macedonian country that they identified their home as Macedonia.

Another interesting observation is that the bell maker spelled the name of Macedonia in Cyrillic as "МАКЕДОНИА", different from the modern Bulgarian/Serbian spelling.

And finally right below the word Macedonia is a star with 12 rays.

[Karposh]

I’m having trouble locating the year 1834 on the bell but I don’t doubt for a second that it does originate from then. This picture is gold and speaks volumes. It really needs to be analysed further.

Firstly, why doesn’t it proudly say B’lgaria on the bell instead of Makedonia? After all, this is from a time long before Misirkov, Pulevski and others decided to break away from the Bulgarian fold in the late 1800’s and become the “Bulgarian-Macedonian” sect that we speak of today.

Secondly, I can understand the crucifix being stamped on the church bell but the inclusion of the ancient Macedonian sun symbol just blows me away. Is this a coincidence or did the “majstor” who made the bell know something back then that we’ve only just been aware of since the late 70’s that that very symbol is the genuine national symbol of Macedonia and the Macedonian people.

Thirdly, this is proof positive that the average Macedonian peasant was quite cognizant of his ethnic Macedonian identity during that time and proudly displayed it as seen on this bell. The idea that a few heretic Bulgarian intellectuals just before the turn of the century convinced a whole nation of people to become something they were not is just ludicrous.

[Soldier of Macedon]

A bell from a church in a village in Serbia near the Bulgarian border.

The bell dates from 1834 and the maker (majstor) stamped his trademark on it as G.D. Aleksov from the village of Gorno Brodi, Seresko, Macedonia.

What makes this bell significant is that it's an artifact confirming that people at that time had a deep desire for a Macedonian country that they identified their home as Macedonia.

Another interesting observation is that the bell maker spelled the name of Macedonia in Cyrillic as "МАКЕДОНИА", different from the modern Bulgarian/Serbian spelling.

And finally right below the word Macedonia is a star with 12 rays.

Niko, this is very interesting. It is from a village called Izvora. Where did you get the 1834 year?

[Stevce]

Hi guys, there is another picture of the back of the bell which has the sun symbol also along with crosses of a sun symbol.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1289538491112439&set=p.1289538491112439&type=3&theater

More bells like this must surely exist. Anyone know if this person has any descendants? If anyone has other pictures like this please post it.

[vicsinad]

Niko, this is very interesting. It is from a village called Izvora. Where did you get the 1834 year?

The FB page has this description underneath the photo:


"Натпис на ѕвоното во црквата Св. Троица во с. Извор, Босилеградско од 1834 година.
Мајстор Г.Д. Алексов од село Горно Броди, Серско."

[Soldier of Macedon]

The FB page has this description underneath the photo:


"Натпис на ѕвоното во црквата Св. Троица во с. Извор, Босилеградско од 1834 година.
Мајстор Г.Д. Алексов од село Горно Броди, Серско."

The wiki page indicates that the church was built in 1833, so whilst 1834 does seem plausible I am still not sure where they got that date from as I don't see it anywhere on the bell itself.

Another interesting observation is that the bell maker spelled the name of Macedonia in Cyrillic as "МАКЕДОНИА", different from the modern Bulgarian/Serbian spelling.

The picture on the second FB page which was linked by Stevce in his recent post, which appears to be the same item from a different angle and has a similar inscription at the base, does use the modern Bulgarian orthography. That could be a later inscription.

[Amphipolis]

The Bulgarian Wikipedia on Izvor has many pictures and information on the village and the church.

https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%98%D0%B7%D0%B2%D0%BE%D1%80_(%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%89%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%91%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B4)

Actually, if you watch carefully the other picture (of post#5) is from a different bell, yet probably from the same church.

[Karposh]

Actually, if you watch carefully the other picture (of post#5) is from a different bell, yet probably from the same church.

I agree with Amphipolis. The picture from post 5 seems to be of a different bell. Tell-tale signs include the lack of the fleur-de-lis bordering around the top of the bell and the sun symbols are different. The first bell had the ancient Macedonian sun symbols whereas the second bell has, what look like, snowflake type stars. Perhaps the second bell was made from another majstor from Gorno Brodi. One thing is clear they were certainly proud of their Macedonian heritage. This must have been their way of branding their product with a "Made in Macedonia" tag.

I noted also from the Bulgarian article that the renowned master builders from Debar were also employed to build the church in Izvora. I wonder if they left similar tags around the Balkan's Orthodox churches which they built.

[Niko777]

The wiki page indicates that the church was built in 1833, so whilst 1834 does seem plausible I am still not sure where they got that date from as I don't see it anywhere on the bell itself.

You're right, the church is from 1833-1834. The bell is probably from the late 1800s.

The picture on the second FB page which was linked by Stevce in his recent post, which appears to be the same item from a different angle and has a similar inscription at the base, does use the modern Bulgarian orthography. That could be a later inscription.

No, this is a different bell but same maker from a village in Pirin Macedonia from the early 1900s.

[Stevce]

Hi Niko,
Thanks I just got clarification that the second bell is indeed a different one dated 1904.
I would still say the second bell is Macedonian even through it uses Bulgarian orthography as back then Macedonians got their education primarily through religious institutions and they could only pick three.
Regardless the inclusion of the word Macedonia and the sun symbol shows the continuation from antique times to modern times.

[Liberator of Makedonija]

The first bell from Sersko is a really great find in my opinion given the estimated time it was created and the interesting spelling it utilised. If it was indeed made in the 1830s then it pre-dates any established standard form of writing for any South Slavic language to my knowledge.

[Stevce]

There must be more Macedonian church bells out there.