Description of the attraction
Just a couple of hundred meters from the village of Tatul, which is 15 kilometers from Momchilgrad, there is one of the most impressive megalithic monuments - the Thracian (Thracian) sanctuary. This is a rock mass, which is crowned by a truncated pyramid. The complex includes a quadrangular bed for the main altar, two sarcophagi and a well three meters deep. It is believed that this is the oldest Thracian charoon (sanctuary of a deified person). It is believed that it belonged to Orpheus, a hero and singer, the legendary patron of the Rhodope. He is also associated with the personality of the Thracian king Rezos, who ruled in the south of the Rhodope and participated in the Trojan War.
During archaeological excavations, many specimens of ancient ceramics were found, which made it possible to establish the age of the sanctuary. Scientists believe that the rocky pyramid, as well as the tombs located around, took shape during the 18-11 centuries BC. This is the time of the greatest prosperity of the complex. Many objects of ritual and everyday value were discovered here - clay idols, vessels, images of gods, spindles and spindles, various bronze objects. In 2004, excavations were carried out here for three years, the result of which was a unique find - wheels for a clay model of the Heavenly chariot and a fragment of a mask made of gold, as well as clay altars for sacrifices located all around. In the 13-12 centuries BC. there was an earthquake in this area, the sanctuary was badly damaged.
In the ancient period, a massive wall of huge stone blocks was erected here. Several buildings were discovered in the sanctuary, one of them is a temple with walls 6 meters high. In the first century, active construction activities were carried out on this territory; the sanctuary in its renewed form existed until the middle of the century. Later, in the 3rd century, a Roman villa was erected here, which was burned by the Goths, but was restored, but in a much more primitive form. 9-10 centuries - a period of another heyday and various rearrangements. In the middle of the 13th century, a medieval acropolis was located here, in which archaeologists have discovered 8 graves at the moment.
The sanctuary is currently open to the public.
