All Thracian tribes built amazing tombs for their rulers. The burial mounds in the Kazanluk area alone number more than 500 and most of the Thracian tombs are of the Mycenaean beehive type. One of them has its unique and realy amazing architectural style and this is the Thracian tomb of Sveshtari.Discovered in 1982 near the village of Sveshtari, this 3rd-century B.C. Thracian tomb reflects the fundamental structural principles of Thracian cult buildings. The tomb has a unique architectural decor, with polychrome half-human, half-plant caryatids and painted murals. The 10 female figures carved in high relief on the walls of the central chamber and the decoration of the lunette in its vault are the only examples of this type found so far in the Thracian lands. It is a remarkable reminder of the culture of the Getes, a Thracian people who were in contact with the Hellenistic and Hyperborean worlds, according to ancient geographers.

Built in the first half of the 3rd century BC, for a Thracian king, the tomb from Sveshtari is richly ornamented. The chamber was decorated as a facade of a temple which depicted a horseman who takes a golden garland from the hands of a goddess with a religious procession following her. Two funerary beds, human bones and grave offerings were discovered in the central chamber. It probably belongs to the Getae tribe.

Google Earth Placemark – The Thracian Tomb of Sveshtari

Similar Topics from Ancient Bulgaria Archive

» The Sacred Tombs of the Rulers of the Getae
» Saving excavations at tomb near Cherniche village
» The Thracian Tombs near the villages of Aleksandrovo and Silistra
» Rocky Tomb near the village of Gorno Pole, Madjarovo municipality
» Thracian tomb from the V-th century before Christ was found today from archaeologists at the " Vanchovi chuki" area, Simeonovgrad municipality