Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 All Rights Reserved

Archaeologists discover 6th-century rotunda mausoleum at ancient city of Perperikon

Photo: gov.bg

Bulgaria's leading archaeologist, Prof. Nikolay Ovcharov, and his team have found a rotunda mausoleum at one of Bulgaria's emblematic archaological sites - the ancient rock city of Perperikon.

The new site is a rotunda mausoleum rotunda of the bishops dating from the 6th century. This is the last discovery of the team of Prof. Nikolay Ovcharov in the site of Perperikon.
"We were hoping to find the rich residence of the bishops of the entire Rhodopes, whose centre in the 6th century was on Perperikon," says the archaeologist. according to his assumptions, the residence was supposed to be located at 50 metres west of the largest early-Christian church in the Rhodopes, discovered by the same team five years ago. Nikolay Ovcharov recalls that the nearly 40-metre-long church is decorated with monumental colonnades and stone sculptures.
The archaeological team came across a building with “only a few analogies in the late Roman Empire.” The plan of the monumental building is an ideal circle with a diameter of 7.50 m. Similar rotundas were designed in antiquity, but perhaps the most famous is the Pantheon in Rome. With the adoption of Christianity, this shape was mainly used in the construction of mausoleums of notable persons, and it is assumed that the rotunda of Perperikon performed these functions.
The excavations at Perperikon will continue for another month and after their completion new and interesting results are expected, adds Prof. Nikolay Ovcharov.



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Tsar Boris III

Exhibition in Sofia on the occasion of the 130th anniversary of the birth of Tsar Boris III

The National History Museum celebrates the 130th anniversary of the birth of Tsar Boris III with the exhibition "Tsar Boris III. Personality and Statesman" . It will be opened today in the central lobby of the museum. The exhibition will present, in..

published on 10/3/24 6:05 AM

Why a new Pan-Orthodox Council must be convened in Sofia

26 years ago, on 30 September, at the initiative of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (BOC), a Pan-Orthodox Council was convened in Sofia to resolve the schism within the Bulgarian clergy . Then, despite the efforts of Patriarch Bartholomew of Istanbul to..

published on 9/30/24 7:05 AM
On September 20, Prof. Ludmil Vagalinski's team discovered a statue in Heraclea Sintica, three days later they also discovered the head of the sculpture.

Floor mosaic and the head of a Roman statue discovered at Heraclea Sintica

The head of a statue has been unearthed during excavations in the great canal of the ancient city of Heraclea Sintica located in Southwestern Bulgaria, close to the town of Petrich. The head longs to the statue that was discovered a few days ago..

published on 9/23/24 4:48 PM