Balchik wants to buy back land containing ancient temple of Kibela

15:14 Tue 22 Apr 2008 - www.propertywisebulgaria.com

The Balchik municipality has expressed interest in buying back the plot of land on which the remains of the ancient temple of Kibela (the ancient goddess Cybele) had been discovered. A buy-back however, would take a significant chunk out of the municipal budget, Bulgarian news agency (BTA) quoted Balchik mayor Nikolai Angelov as saying.

Angelov said the municipality had offered the current owners the chance to exchange the site for a larger plot but the offer had been rejected. The two sides could not reach an agreement about the value of a possible deal, Investor.bg said.

The temple had been discovered in the spring of 2007 during excavations for the construction of an on-site hotel. The construction had been stopped by the municipality, Angelov said.

The temple for the goddess was extremely valuable and in such a good state that it deserved recognition as a world monument of culture, Investor.bg quoted Angelov as saying. The goddess Cybele is originally from Anatolia. She was a deification of the Earth Mother and has been worshipped since Neolithic times.

According to the head of the archaeological dig, Igor Lazarenko, an orthodox church and an ancient mosque were in the vicinity of the temple.

The archaeological dig would continue this spring, Investor.bg said. In the dig, eight statues of the goddess had been found, along with 25 inscriptions in stone – mostly in Ancient Greek – ceramics and coins from the third and fourth century BC.

Comments

Comments by Koos Jan Schouten - 08:22 23 Apr 2008
	First of all I would like to congratulate Balchik mayor Nikolai Angelov for this initiative. The owner of the plot discovered the temple during building activities last summer, and if it had not been for an observant neighbour who immediately contacted the museum, this amazing find would have been lost forever. The man even continued pooring concrete during the hours that it took to get a court ruling. I visited the site during my summer holiday together with a prominent history professor from Zagrab University who was amazed by the discovery and disgusted by the attitude of the land owner. I believe that the national government should jump in and help the municipaility of Balchik to preserve this ancient treasure. Obviously, individual and corporate donations to Balchik municipality are also welcome.