News

Font size: A A A

Archeologists find sliver cross in medieval christian Necropolis in Trapesitsa hill fortress in Bulgaria`s Veliko Tarnovo.

Saturday, Sep 05, 2015

A silver cross with a crucifixion image from the Late Middle Ages has been discovered by the archaeologists excavating a Christian necropolis on the Trapesitsa Hill, one of the two main citadels, together with the Tsarevets Hill Fortress, of Tarnovgrad, the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire (1185-1396 AD), in today’s city of Veliko Tarnovo.

The silver cross has been found on the chest of a middle-aged woman buried in Grave No. 314 in the medieval Christian necropolis near Church No. 2 on the Trapesitsa Hill, Prof. Dr. Kostantin Totev from the Veliko Tarnovo Branch of the National Institute and Museum of Archaeology of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences has announced.

The silver cross is 8 cm long, and was designed according to the Byzantine tradition but was made by a local jeweler from Tarnovgrad, the arcbhaeologist has told Radio Focus Veliko Tarnovo.

The cross is said to be especially interesting because of its iconographic relief depicting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ which makes it a very rare find.

Totev notes that the necropolis at Church No. 2 on the Trapesitsa Hill in Bulgaria’s Veliko Tarnovo has been excavated for the past years, and that only in 2015 so far the archaeologists have explored about 20 graves.

“Different parts of the necropolis have been excavated, and [over the years we have found] graves with very precious inventory – gold-thread textiles, gold and silver decorations and rings. But this season the Christian cult items are very few which is why we’ve decided to announce this newly found silver cross even though the excavations are not over yet,” explains the archaeologist.

He says the 2015 summer excavations are focused on a limited plot near the imperial palace of the Bulgarian Tsars of the Second Bulgarian Empire in the northern part of the Trapesitsa Hill.

Source: archaeologyinbulgaria.com