Archaeologists Concerned over Restoration of Ancient and Medieval Fortress Markeli (Marcellae) near Bulgaria’s Karnobat
A view of the ruins of the Markeli (Marcellae) Fortress near the town of Karnobat in Eastern Bulgaria. Photo: Radio Burgas
The archaeological restoration of the Late Antiquity and medieval fortress Markeli (Marcellae in Latin) near the town of Karnobat in Eastern Bulgaria has been carried out with materials of poor quality, archaeologists have alarmed.
The BGN 3.2-million (EUR 1.7-million) EU-funded project for the partial archaeological restoration of the Markeli Fortress has been organized by Karnobat Municipality in order to promote the archaeological site as a destination for cultural tourism.
However, not unlike a number of other archaeological restoration projects in Bulgaria, it has come under criticism over its execution.
“The restoration and conservation of the Markeli Fortress near Karnobat is of poor quality. Just four months after they were placed, the bricks have already cracked at some spots,” says archaeologist Dimcho Momchilov from the Burgas Regional Museum of History, as cited by the 24 Chasa daily.
Momchilov has been the lead archaeologist of the team that has excavated the Markeli (Marcellae) Fortress for years.
“The coating of the fortress wall and tower has cracked, and the construction works smudged the original floor coating in the fortress church,” he adds.
Architect Yuri Yordanov who participated in the construction supervision for the Markeli Fortress has also registered problems.
“I have found a discrepancy between the project and the execution… For example, in the building up, instead of quadrae (stone blocks) they have used tiles. I have written a statement about these irregularities, the designers must take it from there,” Yordanov is quoted as saying.
Karnobat Mayor Georgi Dimitrov has admitted to some problems with the restoration of the Markeli Fortress but has said that those have been rectified.
“There were problems but they have been fixed. We are presently awaiting the decision of the Ministry of Culture in order to receive a certificate for launching the site,” argues Petko Petkov, head of the restoration project.
He adds that the first tourists might be able to visit the newly restored Markeli Fortress at the end of October 2015.
Recent restorations of fortresses and other archaeological sites in Bulgaria have been funded mostly with EU money for the development of cultural tourism.
Bulgaria’s some 6,000 ancient and medieval fortresses were destroyed by the invading Ottoman Turks at the end of the 14th century AD, and archaeological restorations are seen today as a means of restoring the national memory and promoting cultural tourism.
However, the notoriously botched restorations of the Krakra Fortress and some other archaeological sites such as the Yailata Fortress on the Black Sea coast have made archaeological restorations a highly controversial public issue over alleged embezzlement and clientelism.
This has led to criticism of Bulgaria’s handling of archaeological restorations by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), a NGO working on the conservation and protection of cultural monuments.
The proponents of the restorations argue that they are crucial for both the development of the Bulgarian regions through the promotion of cultural tourism, and for restoring the national memory of the Bulgarians as well as historical justice since most if not all of the ancient and medieval fortresses and monasteries that the Bulgarian Empire were destroyed by the invading Ottoman Turks in the Late Middle Ages.
They usually cite as success stories the partly restored fortresses and churches of smaller medieval cities such as Perperikon, Belchin, Peshtera, Byala, among others, which already welcome between 250,000 and 500,000 tourists per year. These arguments have been summed up best in a statement of Bulgaria’s National Museum of History.
The Markeli (Marcellae) Fortress near Bulgaria’s Karnobat is said to be the largest archaeological site in today’s Southeast Bulgaria. At its height in the Middle Ages, after the construction of the Ancient Bulgar rampart (earthenwork walls) in the early 9th century, it had a territory of 460 decares (app. 115 acres).
Only a small part of the fortress has been excavated by archaeologists but it has found been found that Markeli had 12 fortress towers, a very complex water supply facility, and a solid Early Christian basilica which was later replaced with a medieval church.
On July 18, 2015, about 3,000 visitors saw the first historical reenactment of the Battle of Markeli (Marcellae) in 792 AD in which the forces of the First Bulgarian Empire (632/680-1018 AD) routed the troops of Byzantium at the Markeli (Marcellae) Fortress near the eastern Bulgarian town of Karnobat.
The 792 AD Battle of Markeli (Marcellae) was one of the greatest defeats of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) in the Bulgarian-Byzantine Wars which lasted on and off throughout the entire Middle Ages. In it, Bulgarian Khan Kardam (r. 777-803 AD) soundly defeated the Byzantine forces of Emperor Constantine VI (r. 780-797 AD), after which the Ancient Bulgar troops chased the Byzantine Emperor all the way to Constantinople.
The Battle of Marcellae is seen as especially important for the early medieval Bulgarian Empire because it put an end to several decades of dynastic strife and relative military weakness of the Bulgarians, and paved the way for the triumph and territorial expansion of the First Bulgarian Empire in the 9th and the 10th century AD.
Learn more about the role of the Markeli Fortress in the Bulgarian-Byzantine Wars in the Background Infonotes below.
Another archaeological and cultural tourism project recently taken up by Karnobat Municipality is the restoration of a late medieval Jewish cemetery.
The Early Byzantine and medieval Bulgarian fortress of Markeli (Marcellae in Latin) is located near the eastern Bulgarian town of Karnobat. It was built by the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) at the end of the 5th and the beginning of the 6th century AD. It is unclear whether the name Markeli (Marcellae) is of Ancient Thracian, Roman (Latin), or Celtic origin.
One “Thracian” hypothesis links it to the name of the nearby Mochuritsa River known as Marcil in the past, with the name meaning either a “big river” or a “swampy river”. West of the Markeli Fortress are located the ruins of an ancient bridge built in the 2nd century AD, some 300 years before the fortress. The Markeli Fortress is strategically located to control the southern routes to several major passes through the Eastern Balkan Mountains.
Before the construction of the Early Byzantine fortress, Markeli was the site of an Early Christian martyrium from the end of the 4th and the beginning of the 5th century AD. It existed until the 6th century AD when a three-apse one-nave basilica was constructed on top of it. The basilica was destroyed at the end of the 8th century or the beginning of the 9th century AD.
After the further establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire (632/680 AD – 1018 AD) in the Balkans, in the Lower Danube Valley, and the first expansion of Bulgaria south of the Balkan Mountains in 705 AD, the Markeli (Marcellae) Fortress became the major fortress controlling the road from the then Bulgarian capital Pliska to the Byzantine imperial capital Constantinople. In the late period of the First Bulgarian Empire, Markeli served as a major connection inside the Bulgarian territories. A medieval Bulgarian church was built on top of the ruins of two earlier churches, most likely during the reign of Tsar Simeon I the Great (r. 893-927 AD).
Because of its geopolitical location, the Markeli Fortress is known of its role in the wars between the Bulgarian and Byzantine Empire in the Early and High Middle Ages. In 756 AD, this is where the Bulgarian Khan Vineh (r. 756-760 AD) lost a battle from the forces of Byzantine Emperor Constantine V Copronymus (r. 741-775 AD). However, several decades later, in 792 AD Bulgarian Khan Kardam (r. 777-803 AD) soundly defeated the Byzantine forces of Emperor Constantine VI (r. 780-797 AD) in the Battle of Marcellae, after which the Ancient Bulgar troops chased the Byzantine Emperor all the way to Constantinople.
The Battle of Marcellae is seen as especially important for the early medieval Bulgarian Empire because it put an end to several decades of dynastic strife and relative military weakness of the Bulgarians, and paved the way for the triumph and territorial expansion of the First Bulgarian Empire in the 9th and the 10th century AD.
In 811 AD, the Markeli Fortress was the starting point of the botched military campaign against Bulgaria of Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus I Genikos (r. 802-811 AD) and his son and Co-Emperor Stauracius, which, even though it took and pillaged the Bulgarian capital Pliska, ended in a disastrous defeat in the Battle of the Varbitsa Pass when the forces of the Bulgarian emperor Khan Krum (r. 803-814 AD) annihilated the Byzantine troops and killed both Byzantine Emperors Nicephorus I and Stauracius (who died later of his wounds). Nicephorus I thus became only the second Eastern Roman Emperor to be killed in battle (out of a total of two, or three if the last Byzantine Emperor is counted) in the 1,000-year history of Byzantium, after Emperor Valens (r. 364-378 AD) was killed by the Goths in 378 AD.
After the Varbitsa Pass Battle, Khan Krum turned Markeli into an Ancient Bulgar rampart with huge earthenwork walls. The Markeli Fortress was mentioned in 1089 AD in the works of Anna Komnenos (Comnenus), daughter of Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos (Alexius I Comnenus) (r. 1081-1118 AD), as a starting point of his campaign against the Pecheneg tribes. The Markeli (Marcellae) Fortress is believed to have been destroyed in 1090 AD by the Cuman tribes in their attack on the Byzantine Empire (which had conquered all of Bulgaria in 1018 AD).
Markeli existed until 1207 AD when it was destroyed by Constantinople’s Latin Emperor Henry of Flanders (r. 1206-1216 AD) in a campaign against the Second Bulgarian Empire (1185-1396 AD). Markeli was mentioned in a map of Bulgaria published in 1791 in Venice by Antonio Zalpa.
The total area of the Bulgarian fortress Markeli (Marcellae) in the Middle Ages, including the territory protected by the Ancient Bulgar rampart walls, is 460 decares (app. 115 acres). The main Early Byzantine fortress wall was 530 meters long. The archaeological discoveries at the Markeli Fortress include five Ancient Bulgar homes with lots of Ancient Bulgar ceramics as well as coins of Byzantine Emperors Justinian I the Great (r. 527-565 AD), Justine II (r. 565-574 AD), John I Tzimiskes (r. 969-976 AD), Nicephorus III Botaniates (r. 1078-1081 AD), Alexios I Komnenos (Alexius I Comnenus) (r. 1081-1118 AD), John II Komnenos (Comnenus) (r. 1118-1143 AD). In 2013, Karnobat Municipality started an EU-funded project worth BGN 3.2 million (app. EUR 1.7 million) for the partial archaeological restoration of the Markeli Fortress completed in 2015.
