This chapter examines identity discourses and national(ist) interests embedded in the emergence and development of medieval art history in the Balkans. It analyzes in particular the historical formation of the notion of “Old Bulgarian art” against the background of Balkan polemics regarding the medieval cultural heritage of the geographical region of Macedonia. The chapter presents critically how political disputes over Macedonia shaped mainstream theses and arguments in Bulgarian and, more generally, in Balkan art history. While it dwells mainly on the interpretation of architectural heritage, the chapter likewise sheds light on heated arguments about mural painting, applied arts, and epigraphic monuments dating back to the pre-Ottoman Byzantine era and partly to the Ottoman period. The present study also goes beyond the analysis of ideological arguments and reveals the direct involvement of Balkan (art) historians and archaeologists in state politics, particularly during wartime periods when “history wars” turned into real military conflicts. By tackling this involvement, the chapter exposes the political contexts in which scholarly expertise has been mobilized precisely to justify military occupations and to substantiate post-war territorial claims.