publications on the architecture and art of the Bulgarian kingdom during the Middle Ages (Mijatev 1932, 1936, 1965). V. Ivanova (1922– 1925) and A. Rashenov (1932) manifested special interest in Christian archaeology and studied early and medieval churches.

Some foreign scholars also worked in Bulgaria in this period: the U.S. archaeologist J.H. Gaul generalized and systematized prehistoric research in Bulgaria (Gaul 1948), the Turkish scholar A.M. Mansel investigated Thracian tombs (Mansel 1943), the Italian archaeologist A. Frova organized excavations in the Roman town of Ulpia Oescus (Frova 1948), the Hungarian scholar G. Fehér studied the proto-Bulgarians (Fehér 1931), and the French scholar A. Grabar examined religious paintings of medieval Bulgaria (Grabar 1928).

After World War II, Bulgaria was occupied by the Soviet army, and a Communist dictatorship was established in the country. In 1945, the great Bulgarian archaeologist B. Filow was assassinated, and over the following decades, Communist ideology and total party control ruled not only everyday life but also the sciences and humanities. Achievements in prewar Bulgarian archaeology were neglected or rejected, contacts with western scholars and institutions were restricted and even forbidden, and only a few Bulgarian archaeologists were permitted to maintain international relations.

At the same time, a lot of new building work provoked archaeological rescue endeavors. The government supported the excavation of numerous archaeological sites, and many materials were collected and studied. Although mistakes were often made as a result of taking the theses of Soviet science for granted, many Bulgarian archaeologists managed to follow the traditions of prewar archaeology in Bulgaria.

In the 1960s, archaeological excavations and studies intensified, and during the 1970s, scientific contact with the West became possible for more scholars, although such contact was strictly controlled by the Communist Party. As a result, several important international field projects for studying prehistoric and ancient sites in Bulgaria began during the 1970s and 1980s, various international congresses and conferences were held, and impressive collections of ancient Bulgarian art treasures were exhibited in some world-famous museums in the West.

At the same time, many Bulgarian archaeologists learned more about the achievements of their western colleagues, adopted modern interdisciplinary methodology for field excavation and the study of materials, and examined many diverse questions of archaeology (e.g., chronology and periods, cultural interrelations and interactions, processes of ethnic formation, cult and religion, architecture, art, etc.), although many other topics remained underdeveloped. The main weak points of Bulgarian archaeology of the time were some nationalistic trends toward interpreting the past, which was typical of archaeological studies in the other Balkan countries as well, and a lack of adequate publications on the great number of finds and sites that were investigated. Unfortunately, the results and materials from intensive fieldwork often remained unpublished or only partially published, the archaeological data usually being interpreted rather than clearly represented, and the number of final complete publications was too small.

In 1989, the Communist regime in Bulgaria collapsed, and Bulgaria began a difficult transformation toward democracy. The new political situation in the 1990s enabled many Bulgarian archaeologists, especially younger scholars, to freely establish contacts with scholars and institutions in the West, to study abroad, to participate in conferences and symposia, and to publish materials from Bulgaria in international periodicals. The main challenges for Bulgarian archaeologists in the present economic situation are a lack of enough financial resources for further excavations and a strong need for the great amount of data and materials from past fieldwork to be published. Another priority of Bulgarian archaeology now is further international cooperation and joint archaeological projects.

Currently, the Bulgarian Archaeological Institute in Sofia supervises archaeological excavations in Bulgaria. Many students studied archaeology at the Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski and the Veliko Tarnovo University St. Cyril and St. Methodius, both of which are important centers for archaeological study. The