NEWSEVENTS
Staff News and Events
Photos and Text by Teodora Bozhilova
Shortly before I went on vacation to Bulgaria Stella Nair forwarded an
email to me about a Bulgarian professor, Nicola Teodossiev, giving
a talk at UCLA titled: Ancient Thrace during the first century B.C. I was pleasantly surprised and intrigued by the news.
Since my mom is from the small town of Shipka, an area where most of the
Thracian tombs have been discovered, I wanted to take the opportunity
to visit the new discovery. I used to play on that hill, but who knew
that the ruler of the ancient city of Seuthopolis was buried there.
In September 2004 the tomb of Seuthus III was excavated in the mound
Golyamata Kosmatka near the town of Shipka in central Bulgaria. It
dates from the V/IV century B.C.
During my visit I made sure to see it. It was a rainy day with
thunderstorms. As soon as we arrived at the site the electricity went
down. I ran to the entrance and said: I really, really have to see
it. They smiled at me and gave me a flashlight. You have to do it by
yourself. I thought that they were joking, but they were not.
Well, with the flashlight in my hand and the thunderstorms I entered
the tomb. It was quite an experience, but I would not repeat it again.
Stella, thank you for sparking the interest in these fascinating works
of art and ancient culture.
The bronze head of Seuthes III found in the tomb.
Memorial Church "Rojdestvo Hristovo" ("Christ Birth") in town Shipka, Bulgaria. The monastery was built in living memory to the Russian soldiers and Bulgarian revolutionaries who died during the Russian- Turkish Liberation War of 1877-1878.
Klisura is situated in a valley surrounded by the Balkan Mountains
range and Sredna Gora. I took this picture from the road on the way to
Shipka.
With my mom in front of The Church of St. Ioan Aliturgetos in Nesebar,
Bulgaria, 14th century.
Nesebar has a 9,000-year history as one of Europe's oldest cities. First
founded by the Thracians as Menebria, colonised by Greeks at the turn
of the 6th century BC as Mesembria, the town developed into an
important trading centre. Taken by the Romans in 71 BC, among its
privileges was the right to mint currency. From the 5th century AD, it
grew into a major Byzantine stronghold, coveted by the Bulgarians and
captured by Bulgarian King Khan Krum after a two-week siege in AD 812.
The arrival of the Turkish as the Byzantine Empire fell in 1453
hastened Nessebur's decline, its history thereafter forming part of
the greater Bulgarian picture. Bequeathed by Thracians, Hellenes,
Romans, Slavs, and Byzantines, such is Nessebur's architectural legacy
that it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.