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"""Review - German """"Fingarova gelingt es, die baugeschichtliche Bedeutung der Kirche mit einer ausserst detaillierten architektonischen Untersuchung zu betonen. Zuerst wird die Geschichte der Stadt vorgestellt (S. 5-11), da das Schicksal der Sophienkirche eng mit dieser zusammenhangt. So bekommt die Stadt gegen Enden des 14. Jhs. ihren Namen von der Kirche Sveta Sophia, die zu jener Zeit die Kathedrale der Stadt war. (S.10) (...) Ein grosser Gewinn ist die uber eine reine Architekturuntersuchung gehende Darstellung des bisherigen Kenntnisstandes, dieses Kapitel wird in """"Quellenlage"""" (S. 12-17) und wissenschaftliche Literatur unterteilt. Der archaologische Teil der Arbeit beginnt mit der detaillierten Besprechung des topografischen Kontextes bzw. der Vorgangerstrukturen (S. 30-49), wobei es gelingt, die Sophienkirche durch die Klarung der Vorgangerstrukturen kuturhistorisch-topographisch einzuordnen. Damit wird offensichtlich, dass der Bau nicht isoliert von seiner Umgebung diskutiert werden darf, wie es bisher in der Forschung geschehen ist. (...) Positiv zu nennen ist ausserdem, dass Fingarova mit grosser Kenntnis die Ergebnisse am Bau selbst abliest. (...) Ein Uberblick uber die spateren Bauphasen der Geschichte schliesst diese ausserordentlich informative Studie ab. (S. 159-168) (...) Diese eingehende Untersucht hat zu Ergebnissen gefuhrt, die von denjenigen der bisherigen Forschung betrachtlich abweichen. Es ist wunschenswert, dass sich die zukunftigen Bauforschung dieses Buch als Vorbild nimmt.""""Dr. Manuela Studer-KarlenIn: Byzantina Eymmeikta (2013), Heft 22 S. 391-396.----------------------""""The cathedral of Saint Sophia in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia is one of the largest churches to survive from the Byzantine period. It features in most handbooks on Byzantine Architecture, but until recently detailed studies concerning it were published only in Bulgarian, thus remaining inaccessible for most scholars abroad. (...) The book under review here, derivingfrom Galina Fingarova's doctoral thesis at the University of Vienna, provides the first monograph on Saint Sophia in a west European language. It includes a full overview of earlier work plus a gazetteer of all the known textual sources concerning the building, quoted in full. It will therefore serve as the standard reference work for anyone wishing to study Saint Sophia, while, at the same time, parts of the book can also be used for reference by those wishing to get introduced to the history of the city of Sofia (ancient Serdica and medieval Sredets or Triaditsa) and its bibliography. (...)The structure of the book is very straightforward, starting with an overview of written sources, earlier scholarship and of the monument's topographical context. There follows a careful summary of the finds of the 19th- and 20th-century excavations under and around the building, where the phases of the Roman and late Roman necropolis of the site and the remains of the two churches preceding the current one are discussed in detail. In the past, considerable disagreements were expressed considering the structure or structures preceding the current building. Fingarova prefers a simple solution accepting that the remains belong to two rather than four churches. I find her reconstruction more convincing than the complex hypotheses proposed by Boiadzhiev. (...)ConclusionsWith the data and arguments the author sets forth, we can make significant corrections to earlier theories and get as close as possible to a convincing reconstruction of the history of this great building. We can fully accept Fingarova's suggestions concerning the two predecessor churches of Saint phases of building rather than one. For the original construction a dating can be suggested to the late 6th century, possibly under Tiberius II Constantine (574-582). Fingarova's 8th-century chronology can be securely ascribed only to the upper parts and vaults of the church. It seems likely that the monument was extensively rebuilt between AD 730 and 811, perhaps after earthquake damages and temporary abandonment. This grand rebuilding can be compared to a number of similar projects in the same period, notably the rebuilding of Saint Eirene in Constantinople. Whether we choose to associate it with the significant changes in the ecclesiastical regime of Serdica under the Isaurian dynasty or with the general recovery of the empire under Constantine V, the 8th-century rebuilding of Saint Sophia is a major event in a Dark Age provincial context. In a period when Constantinople appears to have lost control of its inland European provinces, Serdica remains a bastion of imperial sovereignty at the heart of the Balkans and it continues to maintain its most hallowed shrine.Despite my disagreements with some of the author's views, my criticism would have been impossible without her informative, richly illustrated and well-written book at hand. Galina Fingarova has opened this great building in its fullness to international scholarly debate and she must be warmly congratulated for her contribution to the study of Byzantine Architecture.""""Efthymios RizosIn: Gottinger Forum fur Altertumswissenschaft. 16 (2013). S. 1011-1019.http: //gfa.gbv.de/dr, gfa,016,2013, r,04.pdf (07. Marz 2013)"""

Review - German Fingarova gelingt es, die baugeschichtliche Bedeutung der Kirche mit einer ausserst detaillierten architektonischen Untersuchung zu betonen. Zuerst wird die Geschichte der Stadt vorgestellt (S. 5-11), da das Schicksal der Sophienkirche eng mit dieser zusammenhangt. So bekommt die Stadt gegen Enden des 14. Jhs. ihren Namen von der Kirche Sveta Sophia, die zu jener Zeit die Kathedrale der Stadt war. (S.10) (...) Ein grosser Gewinn ist die uber eine reine Architekturuntersuchung gehende Darstellung des bisherigen Kenntnisstandes, dieses Kapitel wird in Quellenlage (S. 12-17) und wissenschaftliche Literatur unterteilt. Der archaologische Teil der Arbeit beginnt mit der detaillierten Besprechung des topografischen Kontextes bzw. der Vorgangerstrukturen (S. 30-49), wobei es gelingt, die Sophienkirche durch die Klarung der Vorgangerstrukturen kuturhistorisch-topographisch einzuordnen. Damit wird offensichtlich, dass der Bau nicht isoliert von seiner Umgebung diskutiert werden darf, wie es bisher in der Forschung geschehen ist. (...) Positiv zu nennen ist ausserdem, dass Fingarova mit grosser Kenntnis die Ergebnisse am Bau selbst abliest. (...) Ein Uberblick uber die spateren Bauphasen der Geschichte schliesst diese ausserordentlich informative Studie ab. (S. 159-168) (...) Diese eingehende Untersucht hat zu Ergebnissen gefuhrt, die von denjenigen der bisherigen Forschung betrachtlich abweichen. Es ist wunschenswert, dass sich die zukunftigen Bauforschung dieses Buch als Vorbild nimmt. Dr. Manuela Studer-KarlenIn: Byzantina Eymmeikta (2013), Heft 22 S. 391-396.---------------------- The cathedral of Saint Sophia in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia is one of the largest churches to survive from the Byzantine period. It features in most handbooks on Byzantine Architecture, but until recently detailed studies concerning it were published only in Bulgarian, thus remaining inaccessible for most scholars abroad. (...) The book under review here, derivingfrom Galina Fingarova's doctoral thesis at the University of Vienna, provides the first monograph on Saint Sophia in a west European language. It includes a full overview of earlier work plus a gazetteer of all the known textual sources concerning the building, quoted in full. It will therefore serve as the standard reference work for anyone wishing to study Saint Sophia, while, at the same time, parts of the book can also be used for reference by those wishing to get introduced to the history of the city of Sofia (ancient Serdica and medieval Sredets or Triaditsa) and its bibliography. (...)The structure of the book is very straightforward, starting with an overview of written sources, earlier scholarship and of the monument's topographical context. There follows a careful summary of the finds of the 19th- and 20th-century excavations under and around the building, where the phases of the Roman and late Roman necropolis of the site and the remains of the two churches preceding the current one are discussed in detail. In the past, considerable disagreements were expressed considering the structure or structures preceding the current building. Fingarova prefers a simple solution accepting that the remains belong to two rather than four churches. I find her reconstruction more convincing than the complex hypotheses proposed by Boiadzhiev. (...)ConclusionsWith the data and arguments the author sets forth, we can make significant corrections to earlier theories and get as close as possible to a convincing reconstruction of the history of this great building. We can fully accept Fingarova's suggestions concerning the two predecessor churches of Saint phases of building rather than one. For the original construction a dating can be suggested to the late 6th century, possibly under Tiberius II Constantine (574-582). Fingarova's 8th-century chronology can be securely ascribed only to the upper parts and vaults of the church. It seems likely that the monument was extensively rebuilt between AD 730 and 811, perhaps after earthquake damages and temporary abandonment. This grand rebuilding can be compared to a number of similar projects in the same period, notably the rebuilding of Saint Eirene in Constantinople. Whether we choose to associate it with the significant changes in the ecclesiastical regime of Serdica under the Isaurian dynasty or with the general recovery of the empire under Constantine V, the 8th-century rebuilding of Saint Sophia is a major event in a Dark Age provincial context. In a period when Constantinople appears to have lost control of its inland European provinces, Serdica remains a bastion of imperial sovereignty at the heart of the Balkans and it continues to maintain its most hallowed shrine.Despite my disagreements with some of the author's views, my criticism would have been impossible without her informative, richly illustrated and well-written book at hand. Galina Fingarova has opened this great building in its fullness to international scholarly debate and she must be warmly congratulated for her contribution to the study of Byzantine Architecture. Efthymios RizosIn: Gottinger Forum fur Altertumswissenschaft. 16 (2013). S. 1011-1019.http: //gfa.gbv.de/dr, gfa,016,2013, r,04.pdf (07. Marz 2013)

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