Situated on a narrow rocky peninsula 22 km northeast of Bourgas, the town was founded as early as the 4th century B.C. under the name of Anchialo by emigrants from Apollonia (present-day Sozopol). All the wooden buildings were destroyed by a fire in 1906. A small corner in National Revival style architecture has been preserved in the eastern part of the town, next to the breakwater. Of particular interest, however, is the tomb near Pomorie which is 8 m high with a diameter at the base of the mound of 60 m. The tomb in Pomorie represents an original combination of the Thracian custom to put domed burial tombs under an earth mound and of the style of the Roman mausoleum. The tomb has been fully restored and was opened to visitors in 1959. To the west of present-day Pomorie the remains of an ancient settlement have been discovered, destroyed by the Avars in the 6th century.
SOZOPOL
Sozopol is one of the oldest towns on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. It was founded in the 7th century B.C. by Greek colonists from the town of Miletus. At that time the houses in the town were built of impressive stone blocks and above them rose the famous statue by the Greek sculptor Calamis of Apollo, after whom the town was named — Apollonia. In the year 72 A.D. the Roman general Marcus Lucullus broke the resistance of the Thracian tribes and captured the town, and the famous statue of Apollo was taken as a trophy to Rome.
The narrow cobbled streets of the town, the bay-windows of the houses, their broad overhanging eaves and wooden facings of the walls lend it a special charm, which today attracts throngs of tourists ephesus daily tour. It is a favourite haunt of artists and it has justly won the fame of being a town of artists and fishermen. Worth a visit is the museum, the church dating from the 18th century and the entire old part of the town, which has the status of a historical reservation.
In the town there is a hotel with 80 beds, and in its environs several camp sites: Chernomorets — with accommodation for 1,200; Zlatna Ribka – for 600, Harmanite – for 500, Gradina – for 900, Topolite – for 500.
NESSEBUR
A veritable fairy-tale of a town, as it is often called by tourists. Founded by settlers from Miletus as Mesembria, it was subsequently captured by the Romans and gradually declined. Around the 7th and 8th centuries it began to be called Nessebur – a name given to it by Slav tribes. Today Nessebur is a historical reservation and a national museum town typical for its wooden houses with stone foundations, narrow and crooked cobbled streets, small courtyards full of fig trees and vine arhours. This is unusual in itself, but its citizens do not take such pride in these features as they do in their old churches, the remains from remote antiquity, the Byzantine period and the Middle Ages.
Finds of coins, of grey-black Thracian ceramic articles, of Greek ceramic articles covered with red glazing and drawings from Greek mythology, Thracian helmets etc., date from the Thracian and Hellenic periods. Tombstones with interesting inscriptions and coins have been preserved from the Roman period. It is most likely that the western fortress wall also dates from that period.
The ruins of the powerful fortress wall date from the early Byzantine period. It was built of stone, brick and mortar mixed with crushed bricks and tiles. Best preserved are the remains of the fortress near the port and at the entrance of the town.
A great treasure of Nessebur are its old churches. The oldest among them were most probably built in the 5th and 6th centuries. Among them are the Old Metropolitan Church and the Basilica near the shore. The churches of St John the Baptist and of St Stephen date from the 10th and 11th centuries. The greatest number of churches feature the so-called 'pictorial style' and they were built during the Second Bulgarian Kingdom. To these belong the Church of the Holy Archangels Gabriel and Michael, that of Christ Pantokrator, that of St John Aliturgetos, St Parashkeva and St Theodore.
In the town there is a permanent museum exhibition called 'Nessebur Through the Ages' in the St John the Baptist Church.
In the Ethnographic Museum the visitor will see a small collection of national costumes, and in the Museum of the Revolutionary Movement are exhibits that will acquaint him with the anti-fascist struggle in this part of the country.
No comments:
Post a Comment