Artefacts Commemorating the Battle of Varna in 1444

We just have the 575 anniversary of the memorable battle between a coalition of Christian armies and the army of the Ottoman Empire. Christians’ defeat had significant consequences not only for Bulgaria, but also for Byzantium and whole Europe. The aim of the presented work is systematization of knowledge about artefacts paying homage to the Polish-Hungarian king Ladislaus III of Varna, who fell there, and thousands of knights of both sides of the fight. There has been applied participant observation of places commemorating those events, there were conducted interviews with persons preserving their memory, there were analyzed many academic dissertations, popular scientific works and other informative materials dedicated to that topic, there were gathered data about authors of works dedicated to that Battle of nations, aiming at creation of a relatively complete description of a marketing product for needs of cultural tourism. Since many artefacts commemorating the battle do not exist anymore or exist in undocumented legends, they were separated from description of those ones which exist and can be presented to tourists interested in them. Thus, the text describes in the chronological order Turkish memorabilia, Hungarian and Polish artefacts and their authors.


Introduction
2019 is the year of the 575 th anniversary of the Battle of Nations -as it is called in Bulgaria -which took place near Varna and ended the second campaign of a coalition of Christian armies against the Ottoman Empire. Then the Polish-Hungarian king Ladislaus of Varna fell on the battlefield. The course of the battle and its consequences for Europe have been analyzed and described by historians repeatedly and from many perspectives 1 . For Bulgarian locals -which had been under the rule of Turks since 1396 -it meant continuation of oppression. Maybe it is the reason why today they hold those events in high esteem, because they gave them some chance for autonomous statehood then 2 .
Since the initial fascination with circumstances of the battle has been fueled by the fact that the fallen king's body and his insignia had not been found, there appeared various legends and unchecked hypotheses concerning the fate of the body and the cut-off head, preserved in honey and demonstratively presented to all by the winning side, which is denied to be really the head of Ladislaus III. It is known that Ladislaus III was dark-haired and the presented head was blond.

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Suggestions by some historians that hair became blond under the influence of honey surprised biochemists who were consulted by us. Abstaining from getting into biochemical and political/religious analyses, the text is intended to present the most important artefacts commemorating that great battle. Some of them are only subjects of legends, because they do not exist anymore, or their realization simply had not been finished.
Thus, some authors mention -often referring to one another -that Philip Calimach described a stone pillar, erected by Murad II on one of Thracian barrows placed on the battlefield 3 . The northern one is said to be used by the sultan as the command post and it is where the above-mentioned pillar was probably built. However, after years it disappeared in unknown circumstances and there is not a trace of it left.
In social space you can find also a thesis that our king survived the battle and that he settled on a Portuguese island of Madeira then. Such a version was described -after analyzing of many sources from Vatican, from St. Catherine's monastery in Sinai and from Portugal and Spanish archives -by a journalist of the Free Europe Radio Leopold Kielanowski as early as in 1991 4 . Historians treat that revelation with skepticism. Despite this, that version is in all seriousness presented to tourists visiting the island of Madeira. Among the artefacts shown there (and allegedly connected with Ladislaus of Varna) there is also a picture by Her- There is also a surprising text by Hermenegild Szkorpil [Hermenegild Škorpil] -the chairperson of the Varna Archeological Society -who quotes a letter by a Russian Tsar Nicholas to General M. Vorontsov, datedon 11.10.1828, where he writes that he is just in the place where a heroic son of Jagiello -Ladislaus fighting under Christian banners -died. Then the Tsar informs Vorontsovthat he separates 12 cannons captured during that campaign and sends them to Warsaw to be put in the best place in honour of the hero who does not live anymore and whose burial place is unknown 6 . Unfortunately we do not know whether they reached Warsaw and what happened to them.
Except of the above-mentioned artefacts of disputable authenticity connected with the battle itself and with the king who fell in it, there are also testimonies about such ones which do not exist anymore, but which indubitably were really created. One of the most interesting objects was a four-sided pyramid, about 2.5 metres high, erected on the initiative of gen. Władysław count Zamoyski (Prince Adam Czartoryski's nephew) on the second (southern) barrow situated in the battlefield on 3.05.1854. It is also called Ladislaus' grave. The barrows are very close to each other and various artefacts commemorating events and protagonists of the memorable battle were erected on each of them in the following years. The above-mentioned pyramid was designed and made by a captain from the 5 th Lancers Regiment,CountStanisław Julian Ostroróg 7 . Works connected with erection of the monument were done by Polish soldiers (emigrants), who found refuge in those territories after the fall of the 1848 Springtime of NationsThe monument itself was made of white marble and had two inscriptions -on the north side, Poland-facing side in Polish and on the west side, Vatican facing side in Latin. The text was dedicated only to Polish knights and it did not mention knights of other nationalities who had fallen there, which -years later -caused Hungarian reaction. Unfortunately, the monument was bringing about associations with the royal tomb and was believed to contain treasures. Locals, looking for them, undermined the monument, it collapsed and no trace of it was left. We know how it looked thanks to a picture which was published in France several years later and presented in the work by H. Škorpil quoted above.
All the above-mentioned artifacts are either legends or they simply do not exist anymore, but resignation from mentioning them and presentation of only those who exist and can be shown would be tantamount to serious oversimplification of the whole issue.
Later in the text, the history of coming into being of really exiting artifacts connected with the Polish-Hungarian king and knights who fell in the Battle of Nations of Varna in 1444 is described and presented. The existence of artifacts commemorating participation of the Turkish side in the battle is also mentioned.

Methods and material
The aim of the work was collection and systematization of fragmentary information about really existing artifacts commemorating a great battle which was fought by a Christian coalition army against the Turkish army in 1444.
The material has been collected mainly by participant observation, visiting the place of the battle itself as well as some other places where the exhibited various memorabilia commemorating the battle are. There was also a series of interviews with interesting persons conducted, such as: -Captain Trifon Trifonow (Trifon Trifonov) -the author of a comparative analysis (of the course of the battle itself), where there are juxtaposed various narrations of several participants of the fight, who -being situated in various points of the battlefield -perceived it slightly differently 8 ; -Marin Kostow (Marin Kostov), the director of the "Park-Museum of the 1444 Brotherhood in Arms", who referred to many facts making them more detailed and precise 9 ; -Zbigniew Święch -a graduate of the Historical Faculty of the Jagiellonian University, who highlighted some backstage circumstanced referring to events from years ago, which influence today's official interpretations concerning the Jagiellonians' year 10 ; -a parish priest from the Wawel Cathedral Museum, who helped to explain fate of some today forgotten artefacts connected with Ladislaus III of Varna 11 . During application of a method of analysis of particular cases -and aiming at creation of a possibly complete set of data referring to artefacts we are interested in, as well as collecting basic information about their authors -there were used numerous academic dissertations, popular scientific studies and other material of informative character dedicated to the discussed subject. All of that was aimed at reliable presentation of a marketing product destined for needs of cultural tourism 12 .
Such a systematized set of information should be helpful in residents' and travel or tour agencies guides' work, preventing them from being surprised by unexpected questions asked by more insidious tourists. 8 The interview with Captain TrifonTrifonov was conducted on 15.08.2017 during an on-site verification of the key points of the battlefield, which were compared with descriptions presented in the study: T. The problem of names written in the Cyrillic alphabet was solved by application of transliteration principles known as ISO 9:1995 and being in force in Poland in all academic libraries as NP ISO 9:2000. The discussed system enables recreation of the original Cyrillic record letter by letter, which is extremely important in the case of searches for particular items in Bulgarian archives and libraries. If a particular name has been Polonized, we try to present its transliteration in brackets. We consciously avoid English-language transcription, because it does not guarantee a precise reconstruction of a given name in the Cyrillic alphabet. The exceptions are geographic names, because such transcription helps potential tourists to find them easily with the system of satellite navigation GPS (Global Positioning System).

Results
As a result of conducted research we managed to collect quite rich factual material. It turns out that outside Bulgaria there are not many artefacts commemorating the 1444 battle of Varna and its protagonists. The most important memorabilia are on the area of the facility whose primary name was "Park-Mausoleum Commemorating King Ladislaus of Varna and Heroes Who Fell With Him near Varna" and which came into being in 1935. In 1964 the name was changed and now the facility is called "Park-Mausoleum of the 1444 Brotherhood of Arms", but an abbreviated version of the old name "Park-Mausoleum of Ladislaus of Varna" is still popularly used. There is also a fun fact that you cannot find the current name in the Polish Internet. The closest is the English version: Park-Museum of Military Friendship 1444 Vladislav Varnenchik. The facility is placed on the area of about 2.5 hectares, where the main fights were going on. Today it is a quarter of Varna called Władysławowo (Vladislavovo). On its area there are two Thracian barrows, which were used in endeavours aimed at commemorating the battle even before coming into being of the above-mentioned facility (we wrote about it in the introduction to the presented text). In 1924, on the initiative of Varna authorities, there was erected a monument by a Ukrainian sculptor, Michailo Paraszczuk (Mihailo Paraščuk), on the southern barrow, where the monument by Count Władysław Ostroróg was erected in 1854. Michailo Paraszczuk, who had studied in Paris earlier, had been living in Bulgaria since 1921. The artist gained fame as the author of busts of many famous Bulgarians, but also thanks to interior design of the Bulgarian National Bank or the Palace of Courts in Sophia. The monument was carved out of two granite stones brought from Vitosha mountain near Sophia ( fig. 1). They were carved by the artist in such a way that they form a single unit, which is about 170 cm high, and on its front flat surface there is written an inscriptions LADISLAUS VARNENSIS, and below in Bulgarian "Ladislaus Jagiellon, Polish-Hungarian king, fell here together with Christian knights fighting for freedom and faith of Bulgaria on 10.11.1444". There are also coats of arms of Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria. After 11 years, during construction of the Park-Mausoleum of Ladislaus of Varna, the monument was transferred to the foot of the barrow. It is the oldest artefact preserved till the present day and it is only regrettable that it is placed somehow on the sidelines of the main facility. The second (unfinished) artefact which was coming into being at the same time as the above-mentioned one is a model of a monument of Ladislaus III of 13  In the same exhibition hall, there is another model -the monument of Ladislaus of Varna with a sword and on a horse by Prof. Marian Konieczny (fig. 2). The artist is famous as a monumental sculptor and he is the author of e.g. the Monument of Warsaw Heroes (the so-called "Warsaw Nike") and the Monument of Revolutionary Deed in Rzeszów. The model of the monument of Ladislaus III of Varna came into being more than 40 years ago, but it has never been realized. Thanks to the efforts of the Bulgarian Institute of Culture it was transferred to Bulgaria in 2018.  There are many objects commemorating the battle and knights taking part in itin the Park-Museum. It is impossible to describe and present them all in such a short text. Tourists, however, should pay attention to a bust and monument of Janos Hunyady -a genial strategist commanding the coalition army -or a figure of standing Ladislaus of Varna by Gustaw Hadyna. Replicas of armours, equipment and uniforms of knights of both fighting sides, collections of pictures, documents, stamps, various gadgets and distinctions also deserve attention. It is im-possible to overlook monumental sarcophagi symbolizing graves of knights fallen there (Poles, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Romanians, Slovaks, Bosnians, Croats) with coats of arms of their countries. However, there is no sarcophagus dedicated to the Serbs, because they did not take part in the second campaign of Ladislaus of Varna and an ally from the first campaign Georgi Brankovič distanced himself -to put it mildly -from the endeavour.
A tourist must stop in front of the magnificently exposed replica of the tombstone of the sarcophagus of Ladislaus III of Varna, whose original version is in the Wawel Cathedral ( fig. 4). The sculptor who was working on that piece of art was Antoni Madeyski -born in Wołyń, but living in Italy his later life. The original sarcophagus is a symbolic grave of our fallen king, and an excellent design and its artistry made Bulgarians make a replica. The first attempt was, unfortunately, unsuccessful, because when the king's figure, made from marble was almost finished, there appeared a crevice in it. A decision was made then about making the copy not from marble but from white stone from the vicinity of Wraca (Vratza or Vraca). The work was finished in 1971 and given to the above-mentioned museum. Earlier there was the king's bust by Hristo Boew (Boev), which had been exhibited in its northern recess from 1967. After finishing the copy of the sarcophagus tombstone with a figure of the king and exhibiting it, the bust was moved to the War Historical Museum in Sophia. A peculiar artefact commemorating the battle and its participants was constituted by the very object which primarily was called Park-Mausoleum and today (as it was mentioned above) is called Park-Museum of Brotherhood in Arms (Park -muzejna bojnata družba 1444 g.). The fact that it was created is a good example of a grass-root initiative.
In the summer of 1934, colonel Peter Dimkow (Pet'r Dimkov) came to Varna and in October of the same year the Committee for Building of the Mausoleum was organized on his initiative. P. Dimkov was a fascinating figure with his versatile interests. He was an active duty officer of the tsarist army, but also one of the most popular personalities in Bulgaria -mainly because of his interest in folk cures and herbal medicine, He is an author of many books concerning subjects connected with natural medicine. In 2006 -on the occasion of his 120 th birthday -the Bulgarian Post issued a stamp dedicated to him. What is important for us is his social commitment to building the Park-Mausoleum of Ladislaus III of Varna. During the opening ceremony, attended by Tsar Boris III, he was awarded the Order of Revival of Poland -Polonia Restituta of the second class. The architect, Anton Frangia (Anton Frangâ), who designed and supervised the construction of the mausoleum itself, was decorated with an identical order.
His conception turned out to be better than a project sent from Poland. Implementation of the Polish project would require gigantic financial means, which the initiators of the endeavour did not have at their disposal. A. Frangia proposed reconstruction of the southern barrow with a magnificent entrance and an inscription VLADISLAO VARNENSI with coats of arms of Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria over it ( fig. 5). The conception of an inscription by the above mentioned Michailo Paraszczuk from his 1924 monument was also used. As a matter of fact, the mentioned monument was moved from the top of the barrow and replaced by a big cross brought from Poland in 1935. In his youth A. Frangia studied in Poland and then he was a Polish honorary consul in Varna. there are still many buildings designed by him in Varna and delight our eyes with their beauty. 22 Lech JACZYNOWSKI While discussing artefacts commemorating the battle which was fought 575 years ago and its main protagonists, you should bow your head in front of people who created them, because they were usually top-class artists.

Conclusion
Of course many artefacts are outside Bulgaria. There are, for example, the following pictures: -Jan Matejko's works entitled "Christening of Ladislaus of Varna" 18.02.1425 (the picture from 1881 belongs to the National Museum in Warsaw) and "The Battle of Varna" (today that picture from 1879 is in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest); -Michał Boruciński's pictures entitled "Ladislaus of Varna" and "The Battle of Varna" (the latter -painted in 1912 -won a prize in a contest organized by the "Zachęta" Art Gallery and nowadays its copy is in the office of Marin Kostow (Marin Kostov) -the director of the Park-Museum; -a portrait of Ladislaus of Varna by Konrad Krzyżanowski (picture from 1900); -"The Battle of Varna " by StanisławChlebowski.
A picture of the fallen king can be also found among 19 th century images of Polish kings by Aleksander Lesser and in Ksawer Pillati's cycle "Images of Polish princes and kings" from 1888 14 .
In the castle in Buda, there is a memorial plaque with inscriptions in Polish and Hungarian: "In memory of a king of Poland and Hungary Ladislaus of Varna and of all those who heroically died in the battle of Varna on 10 th November 1444".
It remains a mystery where the cassette (the urn) containing dirt from the battlefield near Varna is kept. It was designed and made by a Varna sculptor Żeczo Arnaudowa (Žečo Arnaudov) and -in the presence of representatives of the highest Polish authorities participating in the ceremony of opening on the Park-Mausoleum of Ladislaus of Varna -officially transferred to Wawel. It was said to be placed somewhere in the vicinity of the coffin of marshal Józef Piłsudski. During a telephone conversation with the parish priest of the Museum of Wawel Cathedral it was agreed that archivists of that institution would check that information, but there has not been their response yet.
For lovers of history peculiar artefacts documenting events connected with the battle itself and people connected with it are works by Trifon Trifonow (dedicated to analysing various descriptions of the battle made by its participants) and Nikołaj Sawow, who described monuments in Varna since the 3 rd century till the present day and who paid special attention to description of the organizational structure of the Committee for Building of the Park-Mausoleum of Ladislaus of Varna mentioning names and functions of all persons committed to the Committee's activities, but also of officials participating in the opening ceremony. He gave also a detailed description of the programme of that celebration and events which took place during it, such as a speech by the Tsar Boris III, procedures of giving decorations, etc.
The present work does not solve mysteries connected with the death of Ladislaus of Varna, but it organizes a bit knowledge about memory of those events. It shows works of art commemorating the battle and historic figures participating in it. It tries also to separate legends from proved facts, but without condemning the first totally.