New discoveries have been made in Sozopol, one of Bulgaria’s oldest towns. Last year archeologists from the National Museum of History researched the remains of 2 big monasteries standing on Sozopol’s cape. Another team was involved in excavations in front of the gateway of the old town October through December. They unearthed a well-preserved fortress, about 8 meters in height, with a front gate and massive towers on either side. The then citizens seem to have defended the town very well by building a second fortification containing another gate. Trapped in between the two walls the enemy was exposed to cross fire. During the excavations archeologists came upon the medieval monastery of St. Nicholas the Miracle-Worker, which has been noted in historical sources. In the words of Prof. Bozhidar Dimitrov, head of the National Museum of History, a church had earlier stood at the site. It comes as an interesting fact that the building was located outside the ramparts. He supposes that the church could have been visited by sailors coming from the nearby port. The residents of then Sozopol might have been afraid of letting the sailors into the town, which led to them building a church in front of the fortification. A Byzantine dynasty developed later a monastery around the church. Byzantine rulers Vassiliy II, Theodora and Irina are found to have made donations there. The evidence for that are their seals discovered on donation certificates. Archeologists were also surprised to discover pots full of lead customs seals in a small building facing the town gate.
“Bulgaria and Byzantium’s custom services imposed tariffs on all goods exchanged between the two countries”, says Bozhidar Dimitrov. “This is stated in one of the earliest contracts dating from 716 AD during the rule of Khan Tervel. By its power, all goods had to have customs seals certifying that all taxes had been paid. We’ve discovered in front of the town gate a small building attached to the church that must have been a customs office.“
In the Middle Ages the townsmen of Sozopol dealt with fishing, and sailed on merchant ships with which they supplied Bulgarian goods and raw materials to Constantinople. They did well, so they could set a great deal of money aside for the construction and maintenance of numerous churches and monasteries. Two years ago the relics of Saint John the Baptist were unearthed. The government invested money in a pilot project on archeological studies, whose objective is to encourage the development of cultural, historical and religious tourism in the area.
During the outgoing week Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and some government ministers visited Sozopol. Bozhidar Dimitrov, director of the National Musuem of History, brings us more on the visit,
“The ministers decided that the pilot project would encompass the entire Southern part of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, stretching all the way down from Obzor to Rezovo, near the Turkish border. The government will provide funding to the archeological studies on 14 major sites in Obzor, Emona, Nessebur, Pomorie, Bourgas, Kiten, Ahtopol and Sozopol. The project will create proper settings for the development of cultural and historical tourism, because with the latest finds we experienced a 120% increase in the number of tourists in Sozopol alone, and a 15.1% in the region. We would like other coastal towns to follow Sozopol’s example, too. And make sure that a significant portion of the revenues comes not only from restaurants, bars and hotels, but also from the cultural and historical heritage of the southern Bulgarian Black Sea coast,” Bozhidar Dimitrov said in conclusion
English version: Vyara Popova
