Friday, October 23, 2009

Bulgarian Tsar's Quarries Are Discovered

Ruins indicating the Tsar's limestone quarries.

Archaeologists have unearthed the limestone quarries Bulgaria's Tsar Simeon I The Great (893-927 AD) employed in building his imperial palaces. The quarries ~ located close to the village of Srednya in Northeast Bulgaria ~ were found by accident by employees of the Shumensko Plato Natural Park, who were mapping the region.

According to Novinite.com:

They saw a small cave, and thought that was a small rock monastery of the type that have been found elsewhere in Northeast Bulgaria because there was rectangular spots in the walls of the cave that looked fit for placing icons.

“When I saw all that, I nearly passed out. I needed several minutes to realize what was in front of my eyes was an old quarry,” said Georgi Maystorski, Director of the Shumen Museum.

After their initiate explorations this week, the archaeologists are 100 percent sure that they have made an absolutely unique discovery, solving a mystery that scientists had been trying to resolve for about 100 years; i.e. where did the materials for the enormous and marvelous construction projects of Tsar Simeon I The Great came from.

In their words, the structure of the stones at the site of the quarry is exactly the same as in the ruins of the imperial palace and fortress walls of Veliki Preslav.

Tsar Simeon was the ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire in 893-927 AD, shortly after Bulgaria adopted Christianity in 864, and the Slavic script in 886. He is known for expanding Bulgaria from Constantinople and Athens to Central Europe, occupied by today's Hungary.

Click here for the Novinite.com article.


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