Archive Funds

Lyubomir Petrov Mikov was born on August 17, 1947 in Lom. He graduated from high school in Sofia in 1965 and in the period 1966-1968 completed his conscripted military service. He enrolled as a student at the Faculty of Slavic Philology at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” in 1971. In 1975 he received a diploma in Bulgarian Philology with a second major in Philosophy. After working for a little more than a year as a proofreader in the editorial office of the newspaper "Cooperative Work", in December 1975 Lyubomir Mikov started working at the Institute of Folklore at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. In 1985, after defending a dissertation titled "Bulgarian Easter ritual folklore", he received the scientific title "Doctor of Art History". Since 1998 he has been a part-time lecturer at NBU. In 2003 he received the scientific degree "Doctor of Historical Sciences" on the basis of a defended dissertation on "The Art of Heterodox Muslims in Bulgaria." In the following 2004 he received the scientific title "Senior Research Fellow I degree" (professor) at the Institute of Folklore. Since 2006 he has been a lecturer at the National Academy of Arts in Sofia. His research interests are mainly in the field of Bulgarian traditions and art, Ottoman architecture and art in the Bulgarian lands, as well as the ethnology of the Bulgarians and of the Sufism. He is the author of more than 100 studies and articles, as well as monographs, including "Towards the problem of the typology of material culture in the rite" (1979), "Bulgarian ritual drawing" (1980), "The Ritual of 1 March. Bulgarian Holidays and Customs” (1985), “Anthropomorphic Attributes in Bulgarian Folk Rituals” (1986), “Letter-like and Letter Ornaments in Bulgarian Folk Art ” (1991), “Cult Architecture and Art of Heterodox Muslims in Bulgaria” (XVI – XX centuries). Bektashi and Kazalbashi / Alevii” (2007), "Sufism, architecture and art of the Turks in Bulgaria” (2013), "The Mosque of Ibrahim Pasha and "Ibrahim Pasha" Mosque in Razgrad” (2015), ”Mosques and Masjids in Bulgaria - interior, exterior, decoration” (2017), ”Mosques in Sofia. History, specifics and current state” (2019), ”Ottoman and public fountains in Bulgaria (XV-XVIII century)” (2020) and others.

On January 4 2019 Prof. Lyubomir Mikov donated to the New Bulgarian University part of his personal archive. Prof. Mikov's personal documents trace the completion of secondary and higher education, as well as the acquisition of scientific degrees and titles over the years. From his preserved military record it can be seen that during the landmark political thaw in Europe in 1968 he was punished four times. His workbook illustrates the four decades devoted to the Institute of Folklore at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, during which Lyubomir Mikov climbed all the steps from specialist philologist to professor. An order appointing Lyubomir Mikov to the Institute of Folklore in 1975 marked the beginning of this long-standing collaboration. The documents related to the scientific activity of Prof. Lyubomir Mikov are presented by reviews of the competition for the award of the scientific degree "Doctor of Historical Sciences", written in 2002, as well as those prepared around the competition for the scientific title ”Senior Research Fellow I degree” since 2004. The most noticeable in the archive of Prof. Lyubomir Mikov is the presence of illustrative materials - there are about 2 thousand negatives, testifying to his expeditions to study Muslim architecture, art and life in the Bulgarian lands. One of the main themes fixed by the negatives made by Prof. Mikov and his collaborators is the funeral rites of the various Muslim communities in Bulgaria. Another main topic is the sacralized places (places of worship of some Bulgarian Muslim communities). Prof. Mikov is also interested in the traditional embroideries and elements of the folk costume of the various Muslim communities. Moments from the ordinary daily life of the Muslims from Ludogorie region of Bulgaria are also sealed - a perhaps unexpected, but "welcome" side of his scientific research. Some of the images represent iconic places of worship for the Alevis (such as Demir Baba Teke) in Razgrad, Shumen, Haskovo, Dobrich and elsewhere. The illustrations included in the appendix to Lyubomir Mikov's dissertation "Bulgarian Easter Ritual Folklore", defended in 1985 and published as a separate edition in 1990, can also be considered.