Andrey Damyanov (Bulgarian: Андрей Дамянов; Macedonian: Андреја Дамјанов; Serbian: Андреја Дамјанов) (1813–1878), or Andreja Damjanović[1] was an architect from the modern-day North Macedonia. His works include more than 40 buildings, most of them churches, built between 1835 and 1878, and spread along the Vardar and Morava Valley, with an extension of his works found in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well.[2]
Origin
Damyanov has often included in histories of the Bulgarian and Serbian architectural literature, but his biography does not reveal the existence of specific national motivation behind his works.[3] Today he is also described as a “Macedonian master” in North Macedonia, but Macedonian identity was inchoate at that time.[4]
The insignia of Andrey Damyanov as seen on the walls of the St. Panteleimon church in Veles, North Macedonia
Andrey Damyanov comes from a notable Mijak[5][6] family of architects, Icon-painters and sculptors originating in Debar, western Macedonia, the Renzovski-Zografski-Dospevski.[2] His grandfather is Siljan Renzovski who was mentioned in the construction of Veles-quarters of Emin Aga.[5] For him is known data, that his group worked in Thrace, Edirne and Istanbul. Sons of Siljan, Jankula and Stephen, were also builders and worked in Thessaloniki, Drama, Kavala, Serres and İzmir.[5] His father, Damjan, was a church builder in Greece. Andrey had three brothers, Gjorgi the painter, Nikola the wood carver, and Kosta, who helped them all.[7]
Andrey had a son, Dame, who worked at the seminary and a church in Prizren, and the church in Kosovska Mitrovica.[5] Andrey was the grandfather of the Bulgarian architect and war-time officer Simeon Zografov.[8]
In his honor, in North Macedonia from December 28, 1989, the Andrey Damyanov Award is granted to an architect who contributed to the order and the development of Macedonian architecture.[9]
^"Damjanov is regularly included in histories of Serbian architecture as one of the first architects of the "Serbo-Byzantine style." However, careful study of the biographies and the legacy of traditional master builders rarely reveals the existence of a national motivation behind their works. Not surprisingly, it has been possible to praise Andreja Damjanov as a great “Bulgarian master” in Bulgarian architectural literature and as a "Macedonian master" in the Macedonian literature." Roumen Dontchev Daskalov, Diana Mishkova, Tchavdar Marinov, Alexander Vezenkov, Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume Four: Concepts, Approaches, and (Self-)Representations, Balkan Studies Library, BRILL, 2017, ISBN9004337822, p. 488.
^"Until the late 19th century both outside observers and those Bulgaro-Macedonians who had an ethnic consciousness believed that their group, which is now two separate nationalities, comprised a single people, the Bulgarians. Thus the reader should ignore references to ethnic Macedonians in the Middle ages which appear in some modern works. In the Middle Ages and into the 19th century, the term 'Macedonian' was used entirely about a geographical region. anyone who lived within its confines regardless of nationality could be called a Macedonian...Nevertheless, the absence of national consciousness in the past is no grounds to reject the Macedonians as a nationality today." "The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century," John Van Antwerp Fine, University of Michigan Press, 1991, ISBN0472081497, pp. 36–37.
