PERPERIKON the HISTORY of Perperikon ancient Holy Temple Kardjali Bulgaria photos from the archaeological dig site at the top of the once hidden hill showing Perperikon Bulgarian castle Kings Chair Queens bedroom ancient Perperikon fireplace the burial chambers at Peperikon and the historic story of the ancient Thracian city of Perperikon as told by a LOCAL BULGARIAN
Perperikon is an ancient Thracian city which you can find near Kardjali Bulgaria. It is a steep and rocky climb up to the former glorious city and surely not for the unfit! Although Perperikon is thought to have been a sacred place with sacrificial alters, all the stories I have personally listened to regarding this archaeological site have been based on theories. True facts have still yet to be uncovered.
Considered to be the largest megalith here in Bulgaria, I would also add that I thought it to be much larger than Stonehenge in the UK.
GUIDE TO PERPERIKON PHOTOS ABOVE Working hard at Perperikon archaeological digs site the first sign of the site of Perperikon to greet us, was what looked liked an ancient wall created from breeze blocks!
As we carried on round we saw a rock face resembling a face, perhaps the ancient King set in stone
There are clearly defined doorways at Perperikon carved into the natural stone still showing signs of where there was once the door mechanism perhaps for a very large wooden door ANCIENT KING set in stone! A little way on and we approached the room with the best view! Whoever slept in this room must have had a jolly good nights sleep! Below left the first of the steep climbs upto the temple, once over the brow of the hill you can glance back down at the second steep climb! Also a few structures that were probably burial chambers, although no skeletons to be seen, again you could see ‘post’ holes perhaps for the wooden tops. Photo above looks like a small chimney, perhaps a bread oven and below resembles an ancient fireplace for keeping the residents warm! Currently this ancient site has no proper visitor centre it does however have a few open air, well stocked shops to buy souvenirs and booklets from!
It is said that humans first arrived at this city way before 5000 BC, bronze age artifacts and other ceramics have been unearthed dating also the early iron age of man. The huge altar which you can see in one of the photos has been carved out of the local rock. According to my own personal guide around this glorious site, the Romans built a huge multi storey palace and one of these photos show what is believed to be the Queen’s room with its glorious views!
It does appear, as you are walking around, that this city was vast with many occupants and has obvious rooms where some honoured people would have lived in. I was further informed that the city had not only laid in ruins and undiscovered for centuries, being blocked mainly by the pine forest that has taken back their hill, but by lack of humans to upkeep such a vast estate. It does look like its been added to over the various times in history too.
To back up the Roman theory a church pulpit has also been revealed which dates to when the Bulgarians were being enticed into Christianity. It is only in recent years that Perperikon has been rediscovered and is a find of enormous value and well worth a visit up there on your trip to Bulgaria.
If you are staying in the Kardjali region, it is also wise to visit the too. We had been invited by our Bulgarian friends to visit the historic Perperikon temple and they explained to us that even today, the true and original usage of this historic site has yet to be uncovered. It was likened to the stone circle at Stonehenge in Wiltshire UK.
We can guess what the sites were used for but the truth must still be uncovered. The Bulgarian News had just been reporting of many more finds of ancient jewellery and other artifacts just being uncovered at Perperikon and we saw many people hard at work. We read the leaflet to get a rough interpretation of the findings and some of the history of Perperikon then glanced towards the first of many steep climbs up to the Temple.
We arrived at the archaeological digs site of Perperikon in Southern Bulgaria, parked our car and paid the 1 leva parking fee. There are no other charges to visit this fantastic archaeological site! Even before we began our strenuous walk around this historic site, we could see other archaeological digs being carried out around the bottom of the hill that hid the Holy Town of Perperikon.
PHOTOS from the archaeological site @ PERPERIKON southern Bulgaria