The Historical Church in Batak Bulgaria

Situated in the west Rhodope on the slopes of the Battashki ridge, only 60 km from Plovdiv, is an extraordinary beautiful place. The Dupkata reserve is a nature phenomenon of national and worldwide importance because of the rare plants and animal species that are living there. It is under protection of UNESCO. These places have been inhabited by people for about eight thousand years. Batak is famous for its rich historic past and its name is a reminder to all Bulgarians about the spring of 1876, when the April rebellion (against the Turkish Yoke) broke out. There was no revolt, though there had been considerable expression of discontent. The entire town took part in the rebellion. For nine days Batak was free and independent from the Turkish authorities. For two weeks Batak's people were fighting bravely, defending their freedom.

The ruling Ottoman Empire prohibited the construction of new Bulgarian churches in the first half of the 18th century. But the freedom loving people of Batak, through their mayor Peter Balinov received permission for the construction of a church from the Turkish commander of Plovdiv, with a requirement that the building was to be finished within a period of three months. Working for 75 days in 1813 the people from Batak constructed their church, complete with a stone fence two meters high, intended so not to attract the attention of their enslavers. They named their church "St. Nedelia."

During the April uprising in 1876 the church was converted as a last fortress. Over a period of three days, 2 000 of Batak's citizens, the elderly plus women and children, gathered inside church "St. Nedelia", defending heroically their honor and freedom. The mothers dug a well with their bare hands so their children could get some water. Even today, the well is seen within the church; the only building which survived after the brutal extinction of the April Uprising. "St. Nedelia" is now converted as a museum and a new church faces the central square.

These horrors might never have touched the conscience of the civilized world had it not been for the courage and enterprise of Januarius Aloysius MacGahan, an American (b. in Perry County, Ohio, 12 June, 1844, d. at Constantinople, 9 June, 1878). As correspondent of the London "Daily News ", and accompanied by Eugene Schuyler, Commissioner of the United States Government, MacGahan was the only journalist to visit the devastated districts; he obtained the evidence of eyewitnesses and, supplementing this with his own observation, published a mass of facts which aroused among the English-speaking peoples a lively sympathy for the Bulgarian Christians. A conference of the European powers demanded of Turkey the erection of an autonomous Bulgarian province. Little was known of Bulgaria at this time in either the United States or the British Empire. MacGahan's report struck like a thunderbolt.

"As we approached the church ... the sight was more dreadful. There these remains were more frequent, and the ground was literally covered with skeletons, skulls, and putrefying bodies in clothing. The whole churchyard for three feet deep was festering with dead bodies partly covered - hands, legs, arms, and heads projected in ghastly confusion. The church was still worse. I have never imagined anything so fearful ... I saw many little hands, heads, and feet of children of three years of age, and girls, with heads covered with beautiful hair...

All over the place horror, horror, only horror!

The town had 8,000 or 9,000 inhabitants. There now remains 1,200."

From the report of MacGahan, American military correspondent of the English newspaper "Daily News", 1876. Also see Modern History Sourcebook

The Batak Historical Museum, (shown in the photo at the left) is the main object of "Liberation Square" at the Batak centrum. Other objects also included in the square are the historical church, the newer Virgin Mary church and Batak's Ethnological museum. There are several monuments also to be seen on the square.

Closeby is the town's post office and a "house of culture". In its underground is a center of activity for the town's many younger citizens (a discoteque and game room). There are numerous small snack and coffee shops in the area and plenty of parking is provided. The Historical museum and church annually host more than 25-thousand visitors.

Several brochures and other literature about the historic and cultural attributes of the town are available at the museum for a small fee. An entrance fee of 1 Lev will grant you access to both the museum and the historic Batak church.

Inside the museum The well-lighted museum is spaciously laid out on four floors; a welcoming hall on the main floor, a crypt is displayed on the floor below, two upper floors accurately recall the April events which marked the uprising in Batak, documented with numerous photographs, sketches, several Turkish cannon and other weapons. Most striking is the tree stump removed from the church garden area with the axes which were found scattered among the thousands of bodies of Batak's dead.

The museum, however, is nearly without the excessively macabre and is only a well-documented memorial that this town gave its all for the freedom of Bulgaria.

Complicated politics in the Balkans have created confusion over ethnic identity. The Pomaks have been variously regarded as Turks, Bulgarians and occasionally as people distinct from either Turks and Bulgarians. They should not be confused with the Bosnian Muslim Slavs, who speak a different Slavic language and demonstrate a group identity of a different style. As a religious minority, the Pomaks identify themselves on linguistic and historical grounds with the Bulgarians (and lately with the Macedonians in that republic) but, on the basis of Islam, with the universal Muslim community, the Umma, and occasionally with the Sunni Turks. Traditionally, religion is prior to linguistic or ethnic ties in Islam. Despite their Bulgarian ethnic origin, the Pomaks have participated little in Bulgarian national life, especially in the independence movement against the Turks in the last century. Interestingly, however, the famous Batak massacre in 1876 of Christian Bulgarians revolting against the Ottoman sultan was perpetrated by irregular Pomak bands. Some authors attribute to the Pomak social psychology a general feature of Sunni Islam: an inherent loyalty to central government. The Pomaks have been loyal subjects of various suzerains, from the Ottoman sultan to the Bulgarian government. Reportedly, Bulgaria's Pomaks experience their service in the Bulgarian army as a question of honor, despite the record of government anti-Muslim campaigns. This does not mean that the concept of citizenship has a very special place in the Pomaks' system of values -- rather, stable government is simply preferred to chaos. Central to the Pomaks' understanding of the structure of power is the traditional patriarchal family and communal relations.