Early Christian Archaeological Park in Bulgaria’s Sandanski Remains Unopened for 4 Months for Mysterious Bureaucratic Reasons
The Early Christian Archaeological Park in Bulgaria’s Sandanski is still closed four months after its completion – for no apparent reason. Photo: Sandanski Municipality
The long-anticipated opening of an Archaeological Park of newly restored Early Christian buildings from the Roman city Parthicopolis in the southwestern Bulgarian town of Sandanski has failed to materialize four months after the restorations were completed.
The Archaeological Park featuring well preserved and partly restored Early Christian Roman architecture was supposed to be opened in September-October 2015.
As of the end of January 2016, it remains unopened, and nobody from the local authorities and the Sandanski Museum of Archaeology has any idea of the reason for the delay and when the opening occur, reports the Standart daily.
Even though the Archaeological Park has now, finally, been inspected by a commission from Bulgaria’s Construction Supervision Directorate, it still lacks a permit for operation. The permit in question is known as “Title Deed 16”, and has often been problematic when it comes to restorations of Bulgarian archaeological sites.
Bulgarian archaeologists have complained that in the cases of the so called botched archaeological restorations, the builders would often disregards their concerns or advice in order to prioritize on completing the construction works in order to receive the much desired permit.
“I don’t know why things are still being delayed. The special commission inspected the site before New Year’s. Everything is in order, we have met all requirements. We are ready to exhibit our finds. However, we have neither a date for the opening, nor have we been issued the permit,” Vladimir Petkov, Director of the Sandanski Museum of Archaeology, is quoted as saying.
For the time being, tourists who have been flocking to the site of the Archaeological Park can only view it from the outside.
“We are eager to open doors for our visitors but we have to obey the law. There have been a lot of inquiries by Bulgarian and foreign tourists,” Petkov adds.
In order to alleviate the situation with the delay, in mid-October 2015, Sandanski Municipality and the Sandanski Museum of Archaeology staged a pre-opening which attracted a lot of visitors, Bulgarian and foreign alike.
The Early Christian complex in Sandanski, including two Christian basilicas – the Bishop’s Basilica and Bishop John’s Basilica, a martyrium, and a holy well (a spring of holy water), also known as an “ayazmo” – have been under restoration since 2013 under an EU funded project entitled “Sandanski – the Dawn of Early Christianity”.
The project, which is supposed to provide a boost for cultural tourism in the town of Sandanski, a spa resort located near Bulgaria’s border with Greece, is worth BGN 6.1 million (app. EUR 3.1 million), of which Sandanski Municipality has contributed BGN 160,000 (app. EUR 82,000).
Sandanski Municipality expects that the Archaeological Park featuring excavated and restored buildings from the Late Antiquity / Late Roman and Early Byzantine period will become a major cultural tourism attraction in Southwest Bulgaria, a region that is also close to Northern Greece and the Republic of Macedonia.
The Archaeological Park in Sandanski features over 1,000 cultural and archaeological artifacts.
These include the most interesting artifacts of the recent archaeological discoveries from the ancient city of Parthicopolis made as the local archaeologists were working on the further excavation and restoration of the Early Christian complex.
Earlier in August 2015, the archaeologists excavating the so called Bishop’s Basilica of the Ancient Roman and Early Byzantine city of Parthicopolis in Sandanski discovered the last fragment from a marble slab with a christogram, a Christian symbol consisting of a monogram of letters standing for the name of Jesus Christ.
In March 2015, the local archaeologists announced the discovery of the large bronze cross for church procession from the 5th century AD.
In April 2015, the archaeologists in Sandanski found the hand of a huge Roman marble statue while excavating the Early Christian monuments.
Parthicopolis was an Ancient Roman city located in the Roman province of Macedonia; its ruins can be found in the downtown of today’s Sandanski in Southwestern Bulgaria.
It is known to have been an important center of early Christianity, having been located just some 100 km away from the Ancient Greek town of Philippi where Apostle Paul established the first Christian community in Europe.
A testimony for the significance of Parthicopolis as an Early Christian center is the fact that it was mentioned during the Nicaea Council. The town of Parthicopolis was destroyed in barbarian invasions, possibly by the Slavs who tried to capture Thessaloniki in the second half of the 6th century.
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The Bishop’s Basilica is the largest of four ancient basilicas found in Parthicopolis, today’s Sandanski in Southwestern Bulgaria. It consists of an entire complex of early Christian buildings, and was the seat of a bishopric in the late Antiquity.
It was first discovered in 1989 by Vladimir Petkov, then and current director of the Sandanski Museum of Archaeology, and has been excavated ever since. Towering at 16 m and with a length of 30 m and width of 22 m, the basilica is unique for its Early Christian mosaics and murals, including depictions of fish and birds.
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The Bishop’s Basilica must not be confused with Bishop John’s Basilica, which is also one of the four ancient basilicas in Parthicopolis in today’s Sandanski in Southwestern Bulgaria. It is especially known for a mosaic inscription found in the center of its narthex stating that it was built by a “Bishop John”; hence, it has also become famous as Bishop John’s Basilica.
In 2013, the Sandanski Municipality started the partial restoration of the two basilicas, the Bishop’s Basilica and Bishop John’s Basilica, and the Early Christian complex in Parthicopolis with an EU grant of BGN 6.1 million (app. EUR 3.1 million) under Operational Program “Regional Development”. The basilicas and the adjacent buildings were destroyed by arson during barbarian invasions, possibly by the Slavs who tried to capture Thessaloniki in the second half of the 6th century.
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The Sandanski Museum of Archaeology was founded in 1936, and is one of the five archaeological museums in Bulgaria specializing in ancient archaeology. It is situated over the foundations of Bishop John’s Basilica. Its exhibits feature a unique collection of later Roman marble gravestones and tablets and Early Christian mosaics.
