“The sea so maketh that the people from near and far bond together,” wrote the renowned medieval Bulgarian writer and scholar Konstantin of Preslav. These words have been used to this day as a guiding light by the present-day archeologists who had been digging the past in the Bay of Varna on the Black Sea. Their work manages to bridge the gap between the people in the past and the present by showcasing the lifestyle and achievements of civilizations long gone. “In my opinion cultural tourism and the promotion of Bulgaria abroad will make things better for the Bulgarians who live here,” argues Associate Professor Archeologist Valentin Pletnyov, director of the Regional Museum of History in Varna.
“We have been working for a fifth archeological season on the Castrici fortress, one of the few medieval town fortresses preserved along the Black Sea coast. It is located on the premises of Evksinograd governmental residence, which creates excellent conditions for the preservation of the monument, because for 120 years no treasure hunters had trespassed, so we are able to make our discoveries on spot. In 2011 we unearthed the western part of the ancient city almost entirely, with the ramparts and the section that opened to the harbours. We unearthed streets, squares, and buildings that are unique in size, some of them reaching 16 x 5 m. Those were mainly two-storey buildings that had cellars. But there were also taverns, churches and other buildings typical of urban life. What we uncover is a city that has been thriving by the beginning of the 15th century when it was abandoned.”
The ancient settlement has been mentioned in several portolan charts by Venetian and Genoese authors, i.e. navigational maps based on realistic descriptions of harbours and coasts first made in the 14th century in Italy, Portugal and Spain. It has been noted there as Castro, Castrum, but most frequently as Castrici. As the archeologist said, ‘We were aware of the existence of the medieval city, but we had no chance to explore it, since it lay on territory that was subjected to the more secret regime of a governmental residence”. But ever since 2005 the archeologists from the Museum of Varna have been doing excavations and have found a considerable amount of preserved monuments. Valentin Pletnyov compared Castrici to the other famous Bulgarian medieval fortress, Tsarevets, in the medieval Bulgarian capital of Veliko Turnovo. But unlike Tsarevets, which is located inland, Castrici was a harbour and therefore a haven for merchants. A proof of that are the 4 000 coins that the scholars had dug out during their excavations.
“The medieval coins that we unearthed attest to ongoing commercial relations with all the states on the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. We found coins from Venice, Wallachia, Moldova, Trapezund, the Tatar state, etc. In the 14th century the Black Sea was an important trade centre in Europe. Venice, Genoa, Pisa and the kings of Aragón traded with the Black Sea states, which were the principal source of grain for the European nations. Wheat, barley, honey and wax were purchased and imported by Europe mainly from the Black Sea lands. The Castrici fortress used to guard the city of Varna, which was known in Western Europe as the harbour of the Medieval Bulgarian state. We managed to uncover also some pieces of hyperpyron, the 24 carat gold currency introduced by Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos (1081 – 1118), which was called in the Bulgarian lands Perper. There are silver coins minted by the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan-Alexander (1331-1371), which matched exactly the Venetian mark. There are also rings, crucifixes and richly decorated ceramic vessels that had been left in the buildings and were typical of the Middle Ages.”
In 2011 the archeologists continued exploring the so-called Princely Monastery near Varna. It occupies an area of 1 ha and has well-preserved architecture which is unique for Bulgaria. The archeologists from Varna work together with scholars from the University of Veliko Turnovo led by Professor Kazimir Popkonstatinov. They discovered walls some 3 m high, and they can now claim that this is the largest monastic compound they have found outside the medieval capital of Veliko Turnovo. They even claim that the saint Tsar Boris I, who converted the Bulgarians into the Christian faith, had spent some time there, and that it was by that time, the late 9th century, that the monastery was built.
“We hope that next year the municipality in Varna will win a major international project for the adaptation, restoration and conservation of the archeological and historical heritage under EU funding, which will enable us to include the monastery into the common tourist routes. The idea is to create a so-called “Tour of the Medieval Monasteries near Varna”.
Another stop in this tour will be the Aladzha Monastery, which is emblematic of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, and enjoys a great many visitors. The compound has new glass cases, modern equipment and lighting, and air conditioning. The Aladzha monastery dates back to the 14th century, but there is another interesting site in the area, on which archeologists have been working for a third year. It is a temple that lies on the southern tip of the Lake of Varna in the Canavara locality. It is a showcase of early medieval architecture in the Bulgarian lands and has been studied by the Czech brothers Skorpil in 1916-1919. It is there that the most interesting Christian reliquary was unearthed. The find contains a silver sarcophagus that contains the gold ossuary with the relics of a saint. Unfortunately the name of the saint remains a mystery and that is why the finding has not become duly popular.
The team headed by associate professor Valery Yotov has been studying a fortress from the times of the Antiquity on St. Athanassius Cape near the town of Byala. They have found an early Christian basilica with a baptistery, and ancient winery and interesting murals.”
The rich findings will be exhibited in an archeological museum that is currently under construction near the St. Athanassius fortress. As to the artifacts dug out in Castrici and the Princely Monastery, they have already been incorporated into the large collection of the Museum of History in Varna, which will welcome its guests in 2012 with a completely updated exhibition featuring the Antiquity and the Middle Ages. It will contain the world’s oldest known processed gold from the end of the 5th and early 4th millennium BC. The gold artifacts found in 1972 in a halcolithic necropolis near the Lake of Varna are of paramount importance to Bulgarian archeology.
English version by Radostin Zhelev
