Balgarianovinite.com Prof. Donka Petkanova, the “Grand Old Lady” of the study of medieval Bulgarian literature and culture, passed away ten years ago on Wednesday. Aged 85, she drew her last breath in her beloved village of Zheravna (Southeastern Bulgaria) on March 18, 2016.
The Department of Cyril and Methodius Studies at Sofia University that she co-founded in 1980 is the only one in the world, exploring the problems and history of the Old Bulgarian language and Old Bulgarian literature with a special emphasis on the significance of the lifework of the inventors of the Slavonic script, Sts Cyril and Methodius, their cultural milieu, disciples, and impact in later periods. Her successor as head of the Department, Prof. Anna-Maria Totomanova, remembers Petkanova as the life and soul of that unique academic entity, inspiring with her optimism, down-to-earth wisdom, kind-heartedness, respect for life, a sense of duty, and veneration of the past.
Petkanova takes credit for a comprehensive vision of Old Bulgarian literature, challenging the widespread view of it as a fossilized antiquity and presenting it as a vibrant aesthetic with rules, achievements and poetics of its own. She left memorable profiles of the medieval Bulgarian men of letters. Her Old Bulgarian Literature 9th – 18th Century went through four editions (1986-1987, 1992, 1997 and 2001) and has been an invaluable learning aid for several generations of students, lecturers and researchers. She edited and compiled the one-of-a-kind Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Old Bulgarian Literature (1992, 2003), contributing over 100 entries to it. Petkanova also takes credit for an anthology of Bulgarian medieval literature in German (Quellen reinen Wassers… Eine Anthologie bulgarischer mittelaltericher Literatur, 1979) and a selection of Apocrypha translated in Modern Bulgarian (1981) in the five-volume series Old Bulgarian Literature.
Following is an English translation of a news item by which BTA’s Home News Desk reported the forthcoming conferral of Bulgaria’s highest state honour on Petkanova as a tie-in with her 80th birthday in 2010:
“Council of Ministers Recommends Prof. Donka Petkanova for Balkan Range Order
Sofia, June 23 (BTA) – The Government has approached the President with a proposal to confer the Order of the Balkan Range, First Class, on Prof. Dr Donka Petkanova for her remarkably long scientific-research and teaching career and on the occasion of her 80th birthday, the Council of Ministers said in a press release.
Prof. Petkanova was born in Burgas [on the Black Sea on August 15, 1930]. She graduated in Bulgarian Studies from Sofia University [(1948-1952)], became a Candidate of Philological Sciences, and won a competition for a post-graduate position in Old Bulgarian literature at the University with Prof. Petar Dinekov as her tutor.
[After her appointment as a full-time assistant professor under Prof. Georgi Tsanev in 1958], she was elected associate professor in 1970 and served as Deputy Dean of the University’s Faculty of Slavic Studies in 1971-1975. In 1977 she was awarded the academic degree of Doctor of Philological Sciences [for a thesis on Apocryphal Literature and Folklore]. At that time, she taught Bulgarian language, Old Bulgarian literature and Bulgarian civilization at the [Free] University of West Berlin [1976-1979]. In 1980, she advanced to full professor at Sofia University and headed the newly established Department of Cyril and Methodius Studies [for 13 years until 1992]. She was invited as a visiting professor [at the Humboldt University in East Berlin (1965-1968) and] at the universities in Cologne [(1983-1985)] and Salzburg [(1987-1990)], as well as in Bucharest, Belgrade, Wurzburg, Trier, Gottingen, [Krakow, Saarbrucken], to mention but a few. [In Bulgaria, she taught at the Higher Teacher-Training Institute in Shumen (now Shumen University) (1971-1976) and at Burgas Free University].
Donka Petkanova’s research interests focus on medieval Bulgarian literature, its links with folklore and with other Christian literatures, as well as its imprint during the National Revival period. She has published some 30 books and hundreds of research papers in journals and miscellanies in Bulgarians and abroad. Her works include Damaskins in Bulgarian Literature [(1965, her first monograph)], Chernorizets Hrabar [(1984)], The Multifaceted Middle Ages [(2006)], Lament and Tears in Medieval Literature [(1994)], etc.
A number of honours have been bestowed on Prof. Petkanova, including an International Herder Prize [in 1988 for her outstanding research achievements contributing to the preservation and augmentation of the European cultural heritage in the spirit of peaceful understanding among peoples], the Badge of Honour of Sofia University with Blue Ribbon, a 1300 Years Bulgaria Medal, and the Order of Cyril and Methodius, First Class. NZh” May 18, 2026: Ten Years since Passing of Prof. Donka Petkanova, Eminent Literary Historian and Medievalist 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-03-18 06:44:00 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law
