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Thracians were past-masters in making metal items. We can
judge their mastery by the burial gifts: ornaments, applications
and utensils made of precious metal. The rigorous exquisite
shapes and the decoration with geometric shapes are typical
of the early monuments. The best illustration to this is
the Vulchitrun treasure. Real as well as imaginary animals
are often represented. The favorite scene was “a lion attacking
a bull”. By the middle of the 1 st millennium BC appears
the human image, mainly in hunting scenes.
There many monuments of culture inherited without any doubt
from the Thracians, namely: the Vulchitrun Gold Treasure,
the Shipka Tomb (unique stone vault with span roof and decorated
with exquisite paintings, which was discovered in 1993 near
the town of Shipka), the Kazanlak Tomb (one of the best examples
of the Thracian painting art), the Silistra Tomb with unique
images preserved up to now; more than 1500 votive tables
with the image of the nameless riding god – master of the
Thracian sky – were discovered; new archeological findings
made in the second half of the year 2000 testify again of
the steady presence of Orpheus in Thrace: near the village
of Starosel in Southern Bulgaria was discovered a Thracian
shrine dating from the end of the 5 th and the beginning
of the 4 th century BC – it is the most sumptuous ever discovered
in Bulgaria. In this shrine was buried a deified Thracian
ruler who, according to archeologists, was an adept of Orpheus.
The Thracian culture and religion influenced the religious
concepts of the Hellenes and many of their temples adopted
the Thracian rites.
We can judge about the Thracian mastery by the discovered
fortresses, settlements, tombs and treasures. The tombs of
Kazanlak and Sveshtari contain marvelous frescoes and basso
relievo, which reveal the art of their creators. Precious
monuments of the Thracian toreutics are the treasures of
Vulchitrun, Vratsa , Letnitsa and Rogozen but one of the
most exquisites is the Panagyurishte Treasure.
Thracian tombs
Thracian treasures
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| Panagyurishte Treasure |
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Thracian settlements
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