Sights

Sveshtari Thracian Tomb (4th-3rd century B.C.)

It is located in the Sboryanovo historical and architectural reserve, 7 km away from the town of Isperih, between the villages of Sveshtari and Maluk Porovets.

The unique monument of Thracian culture, uncovered in the Ginina Mogila mound (near the village of Sveshtari) is distinguished by highly artistic architecture and decorations. It includes a corridor and three premises (chambers), each one roofed and with a separate vault. The entrance had a top frieze, featuring ox heads, garlands and rosettes in relief. The walls of the central burial chamber were built like a colonnade, with ten sculptured caryatides with their hands raised up, symbolically supporting the ashlars under the vault. The female figures are 1.20 m high and it is evident that their hairs, faces and clothes had once been coloured. Depicted on the vault is the heroic story of the deceased ruler. Everything in this tomb testifies to the fact that the ancient sculptors and artists had been still working on its adornment, when the prominent Thracian, for which it had been designed, had died and part of the decorations remained incomplete.

The tomb was unearthed in 1982; the unique find was included in the List of the natural and cultural heritage under UNESCO protection in 1985.