A commission of archaeologists and architects is set on securing a National Monument status for the temple of Greek goddess Cybele in Bulgaria’s Balchik.
The absolutely unique Cybele temple was uncovered by accident in April 2007 at the construction site of a hotel owned by a local entrepreneur.
The special commission has been appointed by Culture Minister Vezhdi Rashidov in order to figure out how to preserve the temple.
The status of a National Monument is going to bring a total ban of any construction activities in the area of the Cybele temple.
Currently, the invaluable archaeological site lies in the open as it has not been properly conserved because of the dispute of the local authorities with the owner of the plot. The commission plans to build a temporary shelter over the temple.
“We agree to finance the conservation of the temple as long as the Ministry of Culture gives us the legal right to claim it. If we are delayed a bit more, next year there might be no temple to conserve,” the Balchik Mayor Nikolay Angelov has said.
In 2009, he came up with an initiative to expropriate the Cybele temple. However, the owner demanded EUR 1 000 per square meter, or a total of EUR 680 000. The construction of the hotel was halted, and the situation resulted in a stalemate as neither the Municipality, nor any private investor wanted to buy the plot.
The extremely rich temple of goddess Cybele is dated back to the 4th century AD. It is believed to have been shattered, though still well preserved, by an earthquake, or set on fire by barbarian invaders during the reign of Emperor Valens (364-378 AD).
Things are moving really slow on this one, it seems … back in the summer of 2008 they were (apparently) trying to do the same thing. This was after finding statues of the goddess (the year before that … and a bit earlier) …
One of Bulgaria’s top Ancient Thrace sites, the Starosel Tomb, has been dated to the 4th century BC after years of research.
With German help a team of archaeologists of the Bulgarian National History Museum led by Dr. Ivan Hristov has managed to estimate the timing of the construction of the largest underground temple on the Balkan Peninsula, the Starosel Tomb, located in the Hisarya Municipality, Plovdiv District.
In the summer of 2009, the archaeological team took samples from a stake in the middle of the tomb where gifts to the Greek goddess of the hearth Hestia were laid.
The radio carbon dating analysis carried out in Heidelberg, Germany, in the laboratory of Dr. Bernd Krommer, have shown that the stake was burned in the period after 358 BC, when the temple was constructed, and the earth was heaped on top of it to form a burial mound.
The analysis of the lab research and of the events which happened at that time have given archaeologist Ivan Hristov grounds to conclude that the temple in the village of Starosel, in the so called Chetinyova Mound, and the nearby Thracian ruler’s residence under Mount Kozi Gramadi were built during the reign of the Thracian King Amatokos II (359-351 BC), of the Thracian Odrysian state (5th-3rd century BC.
The family coat of arms of King Amatokos was a doubleheaded ax, or a labrys. Symbols of a labrys were discovered on several items around Starosel, including Thracian coins.
Before Dr. Hristov’s analysis, the researchers of Ancient Thrace believed that the Starosel tomb and underground temple complex were built by King Sitalces (445-424 BC), the third ruler of the Odrysian State.
The Thracian objects in the region of Starosel were also in operation during the reign of King Teres II (351-341 BC).
The archaeologists believe that the region was the power center of Ancient Thrace in the 4th century BC. It was destroyed during the rise of the Macedonian state of Philip II in 342-341 BC.
The Bulgarian archaeologists have reconstructed the so called “Holy Road” of the Thracians leading to their underground temples in Starosel, and are determined to continue revealing its secrets.
Archaeologist Ivan Hristov is preparing a book on the Chetinyova Mound in order to tell the story of the Temple of the Immortal Thracian Kings there.
Here’s an interesting little video about the tomb (I think it’s the same one):
From SANA (this one’s making the rounds; Adrian Murdoch e.g. has already noted it):
Damascus Countryside Governorate announced Tuesday the unearthing of 5 archaeological graveyards in old Daryya City near Damascus, dating back to the 3rd and 4th Century AD.
The discovered graveyards, mostly dating back to the Roman and Byzantine era, contain tens of skulls, Mahmoud Hamoud, Damascus Countryside Archeology director said in a statement to SANA.
Hamoud disclosed that some other findings were also found as part of burial materials, including clay and glass tools, bracelets, rings, ring-bells, beads, eardrops, made of bronze, iron, glass, wood, and precious stones, as well as eardrops made of gold.
The discovered graveyards, mostly dating back to the Roman and Byzantine era, contain tens of skulls, Mahmoud Hamoud, Damascus Countryside Archeology director said in a statement to SANA.
Hamoud disclosed that some other findings were also found as part of burial materials, including clay and glass tools, bracelets, rings, ring-bells, beads, eardrops, made of bronze, iron, glass, wood, and precious stones, as well as eardrops made of gold.
The discovered graveyards, mostly dating back to the Roman and Byzantine era, contain tens of skulls, Mahmoud Hamoud, Damascus Countryside Archeology director said in a statement to SANA.
Hamoud disclosed that some other findings were also found as part of burial materials, including clay and glass tools, bracelets, rings, ring-bells, beads, eardrops, made of bronze, iron, glass, wood, and precious stones, as well as eardrops made of gold.
Earlier, Damascus Countryside Archeology Directorate announced the finding of a basalt-built mass graveyard in ‘Ashrafiat Sihnaya’, dating back to same period, with several skulls and other burial materials, made of glass, wood, and metal.
Okay … for the past while I’ve been trying to understand a number of Italian newspaper articles about changes going on at the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali . It seemed that there were things going on ‘at the top’, but it took an item in English from the March edition of the Art Newspaper for them to actually make sense to me:
It is all change in Italy’s state administration of what it calls its “cultural assets”, the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, or MIBAC for short. Not only are nine high-ranking superintendents retiring [superintendents are the officials responsible for the state museums such as the Uffizi, for buildings such as the Coliseum, for archaeology and archives and conservation institutes, not to mention the much abused Italian landscape], but its top civil servant, Giuseppe Proietti, is also leaving. In a country where cultural life is deeply politicised, where career moves in the civil service depend on government whim to an extent that is unimaginable in the UK or US, the new secretary general is a Florentine, Roberto Cecchi (b. 1949).
The reaction nonetheless has been that the right man has been appointed. Cecchi trained as a conservation architect and entered the superintendency for architecture in 1980. From 1997 to 2001 he had responsibility for the “environmental and architectural assets” of Venice, a diplomatically challenging job that he discharged with energy, subtlety and pragmatism. Thereafter he returned to the ministry in Rome to head one of its directorate-generals.
//
His priority now will be to provide new leadership for the superintendency network, currently suffering from depleted manpower, absurdly restrictive regulations, inadequate funding and a government that has repeatedly shown little respect for the cadre. He will also have to prove that he can collaborate with Mario Resca, the government’s specially appointed director-general for “valorizzazione” of the artistic treasures of Italy, a term that should mean “making the most of”, but which some Italian politicians today think means “squeeze for the maximum profit possible”.
Apparently the job is going to be tough … in the past week, it seems, there have been a couple of major embarassing incidents. According to La Repubblica, employees at the Pantheon interrupted a concert therein because it was ‘closing time’ (i.e. 6.00 p.m.; the concert was scheduled to end at 6.15). There’s a Youtube video of the incident (go to around the five minute mark for the employee’s entrance; enjoy the concert up to that point):
Then in StabiaNews (March 6) we read this incipit:
Avrebbero potuto fare di tutto, magari staccare un mosaico e portarselo a casa. Di certo sono saliti su pezzi di colonne e capitelli per farsi immortalare come antiche statue. Il monumento archeologico pi� conosciuto al mondo per due ore in bal�a dei turisti. Tutto perch� qualcuno ha �dimenticato� di chiudere i cancelli mentre era in corso – fino alle 10,30 – un’assemblea indetta dalla Cisl, Uil, Flp e Rdb. [etc. apologies for the characters there; not sure what’s going on with that]
… i.e., for two hours while a union meeting was going on, tourists basically had the run of Pompeii, because someone forgot to lock the gate.
… the next day, folks were downplaying the incident and noting the problems that have arisen since the site of Pompeii was connected to Naples’ jurisdiction (or something like that):
And as long as we’re in the environs of Naples, we can mention the restoration (of sorts) of the stadium at Puteoli, although no one can visit it due to lack of staff:
ARCHAEOLOGISTS are surveying a newly-discovered Roman road.
The history of the road, which runs from Winchester to Chichester, is to be investigated and people are invited to get involved in a field visit.
People wanting to get a closer look at the ancient road should attend a workshop on Saturday March 20, held at the Milburys Pub in Beauworth, Hampshire.
The meeting starts at 11am with lunch at the pub. A field visit will follow in the afternoon.
Dr Richard Whaley, of North East Hants Archaeological Society, said: ‘The route to Chichester runs through this pub on to Exton and along the south face of Winchester Hill.
‘It is running through hilly country, and shows substantial engineering. Because of the hilly country, it runs in short straight lengths, which is probably the reason it has not been recognised before.
‘Indeed, for much of the way it is a well preserved terrace lying beside modern minor roads, tracks and footpaths.’
Some sections of the road are still to be discovered.
rogueclassicism 