Mosaics

There are two types of mosaic: floor and wall mosaics. The earliest attested mosaic in the territory of the First Bulgarian Empire was in the tenth-century Royal Church at Veliki Preslav. Its two vestibules had marble mosaic floors made of white slabs and rectangular, square, triangular and L-shaped pieces cut from Proconnesian marble, green marble and red stone, combined with white, green and red tiles. The floor of the central nave was covered with interlacing mosaic patterns made from marble and small ceramic blocks. Few examples of wall mosaics survive from the First Bulgarian Empire. Isolated examples have again been recorded in the capital, Preslav. Shades of red, ochre and dark brown to black were applied against the natural background of the plaster. A small number of light green, blue, yellow and gold glass tesserae from wall mosaics have also been documented.