Friday, 11th August, Vienna

Writing this in Vienna, having left Kazanlak in the morning, produces the dream-like feeling caused by geographical dislocation. We visited a churchyard this morning where some of the tombstones had photographs of the deceased as inlays. Some of those had been systematically destroyed, completely or partially. I wonder what the story is behind the eradication of personal historical memory.

After that I caught up with L and M. They have been exploring rose-associated products — oils, soaps, liqueurs etc.

We drove out to the Rose Museum and looked at the history of the methods of producing attar of roses which is so essential in perfume making. The area around Kazanlak is famous for its damask roses which are also grown in Turkey, Iran, India and China as well as in some parts of Russia. The roses are hand-picked in May and June and there is a week-long festival during this period which culminates in the election of the Rose Queen.

On and off through the trip L and I have been discussing the fact that the trip we are involved in is extremely rapid and very dense. There are a number of things that would be necessary to put things in perspective. The first is that we will have to organise somewhat longer stays in one or two areas. The second is to separate out issues and subjects that help us to orient ourselves here and to give us the essential multiple perspectives needed to make a ‘snapshot’ of the country at this point in time. Because of L’s interest in roses we have already decided that Kazanlak could be one of the centres to work from. We will now have to go on to produce a list of issues and questions that need to be pursued, both in the interim and as the basis for the return trip next year.