Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 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

Photo: Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Diocese in the USA, Canada and Australia

Metropolitan Joseph: Christmas is a double holiday for Orthodox Bulgarians in the USA, Canada and Australia

This year, the holiday of Christmas for the Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Diocese in the United States, Canada and Australia is especially exciting! Metropolitan Joseph’s long-standing prayers to have his own vicar bishop have come true. His previous..

published on 12/25/24 4:30 AM

Patriarch Daniil: Let the living faith turn our hearts into a manger to cradle the newborn Savior

His Holiness Daniil, Patriarch of Bulgaria and Metropolitan of Sofia, addressed the Orthodox Christians on the eve of the bright Nativity of Christ (Christmas Eve). "Silent in prayer, gathered around the warm hearth, we await the fulfilment of what was..

published on 12/24/24 6:05 PM
Metropolitan Gregory of Vratsa

Metropolitan Gregory of Vratsa: Christ must be welcomed

In anticipation of the Nativity of Christ, the Orthodox Church opens its doors for today's divine services, heralding the fulfillment of the mystery of the Incarnation. "Let us experience the Nativity of Christ during the solemn services, so..

published on 12/24/24 10:33 AM