Bulgaria Inside

The village of Mezek was once upon a time positioned next to the road from Tsargrad to Sofia and was burned down several times. Its residents later on settled in the eastern Rhodope region. Mezek literally means frontier. Today, the village has 355 residents.

Mezek tomb is situated 10 km away from Svilengrad. It is considered to be the biggest and one of the most interesting and impressive beehive Thracian tombs. The tomb dates back to the 4th century BC and has been totally preserved in its original looks. Unusual architecture distinguishes it from other tombs, since it consists of a circular and two rectangular chambers.

The overall tomb length is 32 m of which 20.65 m form a hallway, and the others are distributed in the chambers. Stone blocks having length of two m, connected with metal braces were used in the construction.

Some unique artifacts were discovered, among which items made of bronze, iron, glass and gold. Archaeologists discovered fine jewelry and silver coins dating back to the time of Alexander the Great. Research shows that the tomb probably belongs to an ancient ruler. Scientists found a breastplate, clay dishes, a bronze chandelier and statuettes.

One of the most interesting items is a bronze boar statuette dating back to the second half of the 4th century BC. Hunting was considered aristocratic activity at the time and boar hunting was seen as divine.

At least four funerals took place and the tomb was used several times. All of the buried people were members of the Thracian aristocracy. The tomb was also used as a temple and various rituals took place there.

The tomb was discovered in 1931. It was covered by a massive, 15-m mound.