ABOUT ALEXANDROVO TOMB
In 2000 three archaeological sensations occurred in Bulgaria. These were the discoveries of the temple –
tomb at Starosel, the fortress palace at
Perperek, and the beehive tomb at Alexandrovo (near the town of
Haskovo, about 220 km. southeast of
Sofia). The most interesting from the point of view of the military historian is the early 4 th century Alexandrovo tomb, which has marvelous colourful murals. These show hunt scenes in which all the clothed figures are wearing Greek-style costume, similar to the costumes in the
Kazanluk tomb paintings.
The tomb was discovered by accident on 17 December at the bottom of a 4 - meter deep ditch dug by an earth-moving machine. It had been plundered and part of the murals damaged. Тhe tomb consists of two rooms - a rectangular entryway and a round chamber with a two meter high dome cover. Starting about 1 meter above ground level, both rooms are covered with murals: men, (some fully armed warriors), animals, plants and geometric motifs. The figure of a horseman, spearing a boar, occupies a central place on the dome of the tomb. The pictures are painted in red, blue, yellow, and black, but the predominant colour is that of brick red.
The murals are brighter than those of the c. 300 BC
Kazanluk tomb. However, they are little bit more primitive, which indicates that this tomb is older. Greek art usually shows mythological themes, but these are entirely absent here. The images have little in common with the Greek art of painting, which means that they were the work of local Thracian masters. The men wear light yellow -brown tunics with one white stripe down each side. In fact there is so much that you can link to the
Kazanluk tomb paintings that initially there were accusations that the discovery was a hoax.
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