Dinosaurs will be the main characters in this year's edition of the Festival of Sand Scupltures in Bulgaria’s coastal city Burgas. The reason? "Everyone loves the previous rulers of our planet which mysteriously disappeared 65 million years ago!", reads a message from the municipality, which is the organizer of the event, which has become a trademark in its traditional summer cultural and entertainment program.

Burgassic Park is ready to receive its first eager visitors on July 1. And like every year, the sand sculptures will welcome young and old in the park “Ezeroto”  (The Lake) near the horse-riding facility, on an area of ​​5 acres. A total of 5,600 tonnes of sand with special additives to make them resistant to rain have been used to make the sculptures, the organizers announced.

This year there are 12 compositions. Dinosaurs predominate among the three-dimensional images of prehistoric animals, including the mighty and fearsome Tyrannosaurus Rex. But visitors will also see a mammoth, a giant tortoise and other interesting animals in front of which they can take a photo as a souvenir. The making of the sand sculptures is at an advanced phase, with 14 sculptors from Bulgaria working on them, including many artists from Burgas. According to the director of the sand festival, Dimitar Madzharov, over the years he contributed to the creation of the Bulgarian school of sand sculptures. "For years, foreign authors were present who taught Bulgarian the secrets of sand art. Our artists are already receiving invitations to festivals all over Europe," he pointed out to Radio Bulgaria:

"I am happy to say that this year four students, new authors who have not participated until now, participated and created two of the compositions. Separately, we also have established sculptors who encountered sand work for the first time. But this is also the idea of ​​the festival - to provide fertile ground to more and more authors so that there can be diversity and in this way we build our tradition in this field/ That is why it is an honor for us to welcome only Bulgarian authors for two or three years now."

The Sand Festival has succeeded in establishing itself as a popular tourist attraction on our South Coast. More than 1 million people have visited the festival in the past 14 editions.

"I hope people come out with positive feelings, with a smile and take their selfies on the festival grounds. The visitors in the previous editions came from all over the world, I expect that also this year we will have guests from many countries", said the festival director Dimitar Madzharov

Compiled by Veneta Nikolova

English version Rositsa Petkova