Hadak útján XXIV. Budapest – Esztergom 2017, 165–174. FINDS RELATED TO THE VRAP–ERSEKE-GROUP FROM THE STARA BULGARIA COLLECTION (VARNA) GERGELY CSIKY * – PÉTER LANGÓ * – OLGA PELEVINA ** – ANDRÁS P ATAY -HORVÁTH * − BOYAN T OTEV ** – ATTILA TÜRK *** Abstract: The Stara Bulgaria Collection (Varna) consists mainly of small metal objects (belt and horse harness mounts, buckles and lead moulds for such pieces) dating from the 7th–11th centuries and origi- nating from Northeast Bulgaria. The present article deals only with those pieces of the collection which show strong similarities with the Vrap–Erseke-group and seeks to consider the wider context of these finds. The significance of the objects presented here lies first of all in the fact that they show some fea- tures of the Vrap–Velino-group, but in most cases only in a simplified form. The Stara Bulgaria collec- tion of Varna seems to corroborate the conclusion that the elite culture represented by the Vrap find was present in a certain way in Bulgaria as well, but cannot be regarded as a widespread phenomenon, since the ornaments of the Vrap group were applied to simple bronze imitations only in a quite simplified form. The impact of the Vrap–Velino-group is most clearly discernible in the choice of the shallow relief, the form of the palmettes, and in certain compositional principles. Keywords: Early Middle Ages, Bulgaria, Vrap–Erseke-group, Late Avar period, Lower Danube INTRODUCTION The Stara Bulgaria Collection (Varna) consists mainly of small metal objects (belt and horse har- ness mounts, buckles and lead moulds for such pieces) dating from the 7th–11th centuries and originating from NE Bulgaria. 1 Most pieces have been gathered during the last fifteen years by Ste- fan Valkov, director of the Allianz Bank at Varna. He acted as a sponsor of the early medieval archae- ological research in Bulgaria and invested large amounts of money to keep the most outstanding items in Bulgaria. For systematizing, safekeep- ing, and cataloguing of the material the authors have received considerable help from the staff of the Archaeological Museum at Varna and would like to express their deepest gratitude for this as- sistance. The Stara Bulgaria Collection compris- es ca. 4210 pieces. The vast majority date from the 7th–11th centuries, but occasionally there are some earlier (Scythian, Thracian and Roman) as well as later objects from the 12th–18th centuries. In 1997 the cultural minister of Bulgaria, the re- nowned art historian Ivan Mazarov granted the collection the status of a museum collection. The collection has been thoroughly catalogued, the catalogue deposited in the Archaeological Muse- um, Varna and the most beautiful pieces are ex- hibited in the Varna office of the Allianz Bank. In 2006, the idea of publishing the entire cat- alogue of the collection was born. Since there are many similarities with the contemporary finds from the Carpathian Basin, a joint Hungarian-Bulgarian research team (the authors of the present article) was * Institute of Archaeology, HAS Research Centre for the Humanities, H-1014, Budapest, 49. Úri utca. csiky.gergely@btk.mta.hu; lango.peter@btk.mta.hu; patay-horvath.andras@btk.mta.hu ** Varna Archaeological Museum, 9000, Varna, 41, Bul. Maria Louisa. kubiar@abv.bg; thesteppes@gmail.com *** Department of Archaeology, Pázmány Péter Catholic University, H-2087 Piliscsaba, Egyetem u. 1./Prehistory of the 1 Hungarian People Research Group, Centre for Social Sciences, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Acad- emy of Sciences, H-1014 Budapest, Országház u. 30. turk.attila@btk.mta.hu The writing of this article has been supported under the Byzantium in Middle and Eastern Europe project financed by the Hungarian National Research Fund (OTKA NK 72636 and 106369). 10.55722/Arpad.Kiad.2017.3.2_06