The rocky niches are unique and characteristic monuments of the Thracian culture for the region of Eastern Rhodopes. Several groups of niches are registered within the region around the town of Madjarovo. Some of them nowadays are within medieval fortresses (Meneken Stones, Hisaria Peak, etc.). The niches in the area called Hambar kaia were chiseled out of interesting rock formations, situated at the saddle between two high peaks, 3.5km northwest of Madjarovo.
The rocks from which the niches were chiseled are very interesting – “Rocky Mushroom” and to the west “Rocky Arch”. A beautiful sight is revealed from there, the riverbed and the rocky missives at the Protected Natural Landmarks Kovan Kaia and Kush Kaia. The grouped niches have a trapezium-like shape. There are 42 niches on the “Rocky Mushroom” – 5 on the eastern side, 17 on the southern and 20 on the southwestern. Most of the niches “face” the Arda River Valley, and some are situated 10-12 meters above the ground. The “Rocky Arch” is situated on a vertical rock with more than 30 niches, though some are weathered and hardly visible. Nowadays, kites nest in two of the niches on “Rocky Arch”. Pottery pieces from the Prehistoric and Thracian Epochs have been found around “Rocky Mushroom” during archeological excavations. The site obviously retained its significance in later epochs and a proof of this is the flat medieval necropolis registered in the same valley. There are other rocks with chiseled niches registered in the region: the rocky massif next to the “Iron Bridge” over the Arda River, the vertical western side of Kaz Kaia, the southern vertical side of the Meneken Stones, the rocks of the northeastern part of the Hisaria fortress, the sanctuary in the region of Silent Stones, etc.
Characteristic for this type of monument is that they are chiseled out of vertical, inaccessible rocks, which raises the interesting questions: how were they built and what was their purpose?

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