Arts

As a leading art throughout cultural history, architecture establishes the settings and spaces in which the other arts find expression. A distinctive architectural artistic image is especially evident in structures with particular purposes, such as palaces, public buildings, cairns and tombs.

Classical music in Bulgaria emerged after liberation from Ottoman rule and was associated with the arrival of Russian, Polish and Czech immigrants during Tsar Ferdinand's reign. Professional Bulgarian music developed gradually, initially focusing chiefly on classical music.

Cinema, or cinematography, is a visual art that emerged in the late nineteenth century. It is based on photographing moving images through exposure to light or other electromagnetic radiation.

Engraving is a form of graphic art. Engravings can be made in various materials, including wood, silver, gold, copper, steel and glass.

Bulgarian folk music is a musical genre created in the first half of the twentieth century that reproduces and reinterprets the traditional musical folklore of the Bulgarian lands. It derives from premodern, chiefly rural folklore separated from its original ritual and everyday settings.

This art involves making carved decoration for church iconostases. Woodcarvers create beautiful wooden details depicting saints and biblical scenes to complement the icon screens.

The art of manuscript production involves many aspects, including the writing and sizing of letters. Decoration ranges from initials to ornamental headpieces, while illustrations often relate to the text or portray the people for whom the manuscript was written.

Modern Bulgarian literature includes all literary works produced after the publication of Paisius of Hilendar's celebrated Slav-Bulgarian History. It covers the Bulgarian National Revival and the period from Bulgaria's Liberation to the present.

Old Bulgarian literature covers the period from the ninth to the eighteenth century and represents the beginnings and development of the Bulgarian literary tradition. It circulated chiefly in manuscript form and was distinct from oral literature, or folklore, to which it actively opposed itself.

Photography is an art devoted to creating photographs, with its main creative process lying in the choice of composition, lighting and the moment of exposure. The earliest surviving photograph of Bulgarians dates from 1842–1843.

The Bulgarians encountered sgraffito pottery in the twelfth century through Byzantine influence; Byzantium had brought the technique from the Middle East. Sgraffito is a process in which pottery is decorated in several stages.

Stained glass is an art involving the creation of images from glass, often using different colours and techniques. In Bulgaria, this art form has a rich history and tradition.