Tag Archive for Bulgaria

Magura Cave paintings, Bulgarian rock art

Sun figure

Situated in north-western Bulgaria, and managed by the Belogradchik municipality, the Magura cave (Пещера МАГУРА) is, with the Porto Badisco cave (south Italy), the most important European post-Palaeolithic painted cave. Hundreds of dark brown figures are diffused along an astonishing underground Art Gallery: hunting, dancing and mating scenes, bi-triangular female silhouettes, axes, solar symbols… a prehistoric iconographic treasure which definitely deserves a special attention. [Text and photogallery]

by Andrea ARCÀ

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Magura cave photogallery

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Magura figure

The Bulgarian Magura cave is well known for its impressive prehistoric paintings, scattered along an astonishing and dreamy 240 m long underground diverticulum, for which its Art Gallery is really worth a visit. More than 750 darkish figures have been counted, made with bat guano, smeared or rubbed along the cave walls; on the curvy  shaped vaults and niches, white or yellowish “plastered” by the nature, we can recognise dancing, hunting, and mating scenes, and organise the figures into four thematic groups: anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, geometric, and symbolic signs. [Text and photogallery]

by AA

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Bulgarian rock art: the Madara rider

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Madara rider

The Madara rider is a unique monument of the ancient Bulgarian art. Its popularity is immense in Bulgaria and since 1979 it has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage list. The high-relief depicts a rider on his stallion accompanied by a dog. A dead lion is carved under the horse and some inscriptions in Greek all around. The scene celebrates the founding of the Bulgarian state by the Khan Asparukh (680-700 AD). The Madara rider is the only European rock carved monument from the Early Middle Ages. [Text and photogallery]

by rupestre

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