The Holy Virgin monastery in the region of Salzitza near Varna is one of the biggest in the Balkans. It’s located within the boundaries of the city around 4-5 km away from the Varna centre to the west.
The old Bulgarian monastery was discovered at the start of the 20th century by the founder of Bulgarian archeology Karel Skorpil. Bigger excavations and research started in 1995 and with a few pauses continued until 2007.
The complex is unique in its construction scheme and size. It has no without parallel in both the Bulgarian and Byzantine building traditions. It’s alleged that the monastery was built near the end of the 9th century and the start of the 10th from tzar Boris the First. The monastery was built in honour of the holy virgin. Traces of life in the complex were found from as late as the 18th century.
Present day
Until today only around 5 acres have been cleared and partially researche. This is less than half of the whole territory of the monastery complex. Inside the monastery grounds, archeologists found a big church and a big tower with a chapel. In additiona to that the found a big scriptorium covering an area of 400 sq.m., a library, a school, monk quarters as well as an altar table, blacksmith shop, and a lot of bulgarian, serbian, byzantine, turkish and venetian coins.
The cathedral church is located in the centre of a wide yard and is similar to the so-called “Aton” type. It has very spacious half circled spaces to the north and south where during service the whole monk brotherhood gathered. The building was decorated with wall writings and a monumental stone plastic. Around it there is a chain of quarters built with the soft limestone bigor, which was subject to easy modelling.
If you wish to visit the Holy Virgin monastery you can take advantage of My Rent a Car by getting a car of your choosing anywhere from Varna Airport, the centre itself, Golden Sands, St. St. Constantine and Helena, Sunny day or other points within Varna.
The monastery “St.St. Constantine and Helena” is located some 10 kilometres north-east of Varna. It is not known when the monastery was founded. Folk tales tell that during the 16th century a monk brotherhood lived here and the founding of the monastery is connected to the miracle icon of the patrons of christianity St. Constantine and St.Helena and the healing spring. Until this day the spring is kept safe and it’s located right behind the holy chair in the chapel. It is said that the prayers of the people that come there receive healing for what they need. Until the middle of the 20th century the church was guarded by an old chapel icon of both saints.
The earliest written information about the history of the monastery come from the 18th century and are written in the book “Letters from Bulgaria” by the russian traveller Viktor Teplyakov in 1832.
History
During the russian-turkish war of 1828 the monastery was destroyed. A few years afterwards thanks to the efforts of two bishop brothers – Theodosius and Agapius, reconstruction started. The outskirts of the monastery “St.St Constantine and Helena” had a dense old forest which made it hard to reach. The monk quarters were not too crowded. This helped achieve full solitude when practising the christian culture. After the two bishop monks started inhabiting the monastery, the local population started reshaping the surroundings into arable land with their own labour. A part of the income of the agricultural work and the charity of the people of the Kestrich village were used for building churches in the nearby villages. They were also used for school upkeep, helping the poor, etc.
Until the founding of the Bulgarian exarchy in 1870 Varna was the main sitting place of the Greek bishop. The monastery was under the ruling of the Greek patriarchy. Unphased by this fact the monk Theodosius led the services in Bulgarian unless on big holidays.
After the political change in Bulgaria a battle has been led to return the former land of the monastery to itself again. This battle is led to this day. The monastery is the reason that the resort bears the name “St.St. Constantine and Helena” and is in close proximity to the Golden Sands resort and Aladzha monastery too.
If you wish to visit the “St.St. Constantine and Helena” monastery you can take advantage of My Rent a Car by getting a car of your choosing anywhere from Varna Airport, the centre itself, Golden Sands, St. St. Constantine and Helena, Sunny day or other points within Varna.
While strolling through teh beautiful Sea Garden of Varna you can unbeknwoingly find yourself in close proximity to the monument named ‘’The Pantheon’’ on the Alley of cosmonauts. It was a tradition that the cosmonauts arriving in Bulgaria plant a conifer tree. The first tree planted was made by Yurii Gagarin in 1961. He gave the start to this tradition. The once silver fir had long dried out, however some of the trees planted by other cosmonauts can be seen until this day.
A bust-monument of Yurii Gagarin was also founded with a service in 2011. It’s build from bronze and is 56 centimetres high and weighs 50 kilograms. Together with it’s pedestal its height is 2.30 metres. The sculptopr is Alexey Leonov and all expenses for placing it were paid by the charity foundation “Dialog between cultures – a united world”
Amongst the names and slabs of famous cosmonauts the names of the two Bulgarian astronauts Georgi Ivanov and Alexander Alexandrov can be seen. The rest of the names that can be seen are: I.I. Belyaev, G.T. Beregovoy, Alexey A. Leonov, Valentina V. Tereshkova, Valeriy F. Bikovski, A.G. Nikolaev, A.S. Eliseev, P.R. Popovich, A.A. Gubarev, N.N.Rukavishnikov, Yuriy Gagarin, G.S.Titov followed by the years and spaceships of their expeditions.
If you wish to visit the Alley of cosmonauts you can take advantage of My Rent a Car by getting a car of your choosing anywhere from Varna Airport, the centre itself, Golden Sands, St. St. Constantine and Helena, Sunny day or other points within Varna.
An important part of the religious life of the christians are the churches and the earliest form of a religious establishment was the basilica. Every major Roman centre had its own church building to facilitate the needs of the big christian community. The religious proceedings were led by the local bishop in the basilica. Smaller temples were usually built in the small neighbourhoods. In the Odessos region (modern day Varna region) some 10 roman-byzantine basilicas were found. An interesting complex containing three basilicas built one above the other in the period of 4th century AD until the 8th century AD was found on the “Han Krum” street.
The archeological research of this important early christian centre has taken place for over 30 years. It is related to the work of the prominent bulgarian archeologists Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov, prof. Mihail Lazarov and Alexander Minchev. The Odessos basilica is the most spacious in the Varna region with a measurement of 40 to 16 metres.
Building process
The earliest basilica was built at the start of the 5th century with very tight proportions as it was wider than it was long with one apse. It stood for just a few decades as it’s thought that it had fallen due to an earthquake. It contained a big arrangement of internal decorations consisting of floor and wall mosaics, wall writings and internal architecture of multi coloured marble. It’s rich insides suggest that this was probably the main bishop church of Odessos.
The second basilica built over the first one was certain that it was the main bishop church. It was built in the first half of the 5th century and lasted some 50-60 years. It was bigger with a triple-ship construction with two yards. The mosaics and symbols of early christianity consisted of peacocks, flowers and birds.
A few decades later above its remains a new basilica was built and the columns were replaced by massive walls. They were constructed by reused blocks from the city wall of Varna. The construction plan was the same as the second Odessos basilica but with a marble floor. It was allegedly destroyed when the slavic people had taken over the city in 614.
Findings
The mosaics are filled with multi-coloured marble, clay and glass cubes. There are two kinds – with geometrical motifs and with figure panels, which show different christian symbols. During the excavation a crypt was found under the mosaics. It contained a relic with a lid from alabaster, which contained parts of bones from an unknown young saint. Copper coins form the 4th and 5th centuries were also found as the latest one was from 455 A.D. and it had the face of Petronius Maximus. These mosaics and findings show that indeed for about two centuries this place was the most important christian centre of Odessos.
The exhibits were transported to the Archeological museum where there are also parts of the mosaics. To this day the space where the basilicas were build is locked in between civil buildings and there is free access to it.
If you wish to visit the Odessos basilica you can take advantage of My Rent a Car. You can get a car of your choosing anywhere from Varna Airport, the centre itself, Golden Sands, St. St. Constantine and Helena, Sunny day or other points within Varna.
The monument of the seafarers, fallen in the Serbo-Bulgarian war was officially opened on the 25th of September 1894. Its inaugural location was in front of the Cathedral. The funds for the monument were gathered by the officers that served in the maritime division.
The construction of the monument was funded also by the municipality council and under the control of engineer Pavel Karakulakov. The construction of the monument took about five months from start to finish. Four plates were placed, one of which had the names of the 54 soldiers who died written. On the front of the monument a cross was mounted and under a text with the meaning of the monument was mounted too.
As per tradition a service was led by the bishop Simeon when the monument was opened. Knyaz Ferdinand with his mother and wife personally attended the opening. The monument did not have its fence back then as the family of Ferdinand gave 4000 levs to further finish it. A cement base was built, 28mm projectiles were placed in the four corners which are wrapped by chains as well as four 20mm projectiles in the middle between the bigger ones. In 1995 the monument was moved to its current location near the heart of the city between the municipality and the Archaeological museum of Varna near the Varna centre. In 2019 the Seafarers monument underwent a restoration.
If you wish to visit the monument you can take advantage of My Rent a Car by getting a car of your choosing anywhere from Varna Airport, the centre itself, Golden Sands, St. St. Constantine and Helena, Sunny day or other points within Varna.
The Tsar Kaloyan monument was built thanks to an idea by admiral Hristo Kontrov. It’s located in the Varna centre in close proximity to the Cathedral. The preparation of sculpturing and installation of the monument started in 2007. The craftsmen charged with building the monument and designing it’s look were the sculptors Boris Borisov, Konstantin Konstantinov and architect Milen Marinov.
The big brass statue of the horseman was cast in Sofia and transported to Varna. All of the metal material was gifted by the Ministry of Defence in the shape of melted shells from used bullets. The horse statue of Tsar Kaloyan is classical, symbolising the triumph of the ruler over the byzantine garnison defending Varna. The figure is pointing to the west and presents the tsar with battle gear and a raised right hand with a sword. The total height of it is 8 metres.
The four walls of the marble base are decorated with bronze carvings that show a few of the notable moments that happened during his reign. The takeover of Varna from bulgarian soldiers in 1201, the victory over the crusader army next to Odrin in 1205 as all as the capture of the Latin emperor Bladuin of Flanders, and the scene of the coronation of Tsar Kaloyan from the representatives of pope Innocent III are shown in chronological order. Tsar Kaloyan is the only Bulgarian ruler crowned with the catholic title of “king”.
The monument was opened in December 2008 with a ceremonial service led by the Varna bishop Kiril. A lot of civilians as well as foreign diplomats and politicians came to the unveiling of the monument.
The location of the monument is in the heart of the city centre. It’s accessible by foot, rent a car, taxi, public transport and basically every way of transport. If you wish to visit the Tsar Kaloyan monument you can take advantage of My Rent a Car and visit the park by getting a car of your choosing anywhere from Varna Airport, Varna Centre, Golden Sands, St. St. Constantine and Helena, Sunny day or other points within Varna.
Varna, the third-largest city in Bulgaria, is a place where history meets the modern world. Nestled along the picturesque Black Sea coast in the Varna region, Varna boasts a rich and diverse past that dates back thousands of years. This article delves into the history of Varna, from its ancient origins to its role in the contemporary world, revealing the layers of stories that have shaped this vibrant city.
Ancient Roots
The history of Varna begins with its ancient roots, as it was initially settled by the Thracians around the 6th century BC. The Thracians established a thriving community in the Varna region, leaving behind impressive archaeological sites like the rock sanctuaries of Pobiti Kamani and the ancient Thracian necropolis in the nearby town of Devnya.
Roman Rule
During the Roman period, Varna, known as Odessus, became a significant trading port on the Black Sea. The city’s strategic location and natural harbor made it a hub for trade between the Roman Empire and various other cultures around the Black Sea. Odessus flourished with impressive architectural developments, including baths, amphitheaters, and city walls. Some of these ancient structures can still be explored today in Varna, providing a glimpse into its Roman past.
Byzantine Influence
With the fall of the Roman Empire, Varna came under Byzantine rule in the 5th century. During this period, the city’s significance as a trade and cultural center continued to thrive. The Byzantines left their mark on the city with the construction of religious buildings, which include the Church of Saint Athanasius, an enduring symbol of Byzantine architecture in Varna.
Medieval Times
The Middle Ages brought a succession of empires to Varna, including the Bulgarian Empire, the Byzantine Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. Varna was an integral part of the Bulgarian Empire during the First and Second Bulgarian Empires, with intermittent periods of Byzantine rule.
Ottoman Rule
The Ottoman Empire held sway over Varna from the late 14th century until the late 19th century. Under Ottoman rule, Varna experienced a blending of cultures, and many of the city’s present-day landmarks and customs are a result of this influence. Mosques, public baths, and grand houses were constructed during this era, offering a unique architectural tapestry that reflects the city’s diverse history.
Bulgarian Liberation
The late 19th century marked a turning point in Varna’s history as Bulgaria fought for its independence from the Ottoman Empire. Varna played a vital role in the liberation movement, and the city’s residents were enthusiastic supporters of the cause. The Russian and Romanian navies played a crucial role in helping Bulgaria gain independence from the Ottomans, and they sailed into Varna’s harbor to celebrate the city’s newfound freedom.
Modern Varna
Varna has continued to evolve in the modern era, becoming a vibrant, bustling city with a diverse and thriving population. The city has preserved its historical heritage while adapting to the demands of the contemporary world. Today, Varna is a cultural hub with a wealth of museums, galleries, theaters, and events that celebrate its rich history and its role in the modern cultural landscape.
One of the most famous landmarks in Varna is the Sea Garden, a vast and beautifully landscaped park that stretches along the Black Sea coast. It’s a popular place for locals and tourists to relax and enjoy the city’s stunning natural surroundings. If you plan to explore the Varna region, consider using convenient rent-a-car or car rental services to make your journey more accessible and enjoyable.
Varna has also become known for its annual International Ballet Competition, which attracts top dancers from around the world. This event has solidified the city’s reputation as a cultural destination.
Conclusion
The history of Varna, Bulgaria, is a tapestry woven with threads of ancient civilizations, empires, and periods of growth and transformation. This coastal city in the Varna region has weathered the winds of change and continues to thrive as a modern, vibrant metropolis while preserving its rich historical heritage. As you stroll through the streets of Varna, you can’t help but feel the echoes of the past that resonate through its architecture, culture, and people, making it a unique and fascinating destination for history enthusiasts and travelers alike. Don’t forget to explore the Varna region with the convenience of rent-a-car or car rental services, making your journey even more memorable.
In a country and city full of history the archeological museum helps preserve the memory of the numerous cultures which were developed and crossed paths with this land. It’s located in the centre of the city and quite close to the municipality building of Varna and the region.
The museum was founded in 1887 by the Skorpil brothers. The building that hosts the museum currently is built in a late baroque style on 2 floors. The building was initially built with the purpose of being a maiden school between 1892-1898. Its shape is square with a vast outdoor area. The expositional areas is 2150 sq.m., while the library and the kid museum are separate.
The artifacts are from a wide region of eras as they originate from the paleolithic era (around 100000BC) up until the Middle ages. The biggest mesolithic collections of flint knives in Southeastern Europe, antique terracottas, lamps, and glass dishes. The most valuable artifacts originate from the Varna eneolithic necropol. It was found during building operations in the city’s west industrial zone in 1972. The necropol soon became a sensational finding, the meaning of which goes extensively beyond the limits of the ancient history of modern day Bulgaria. So far a total of 294 graves have been found and the gold items in them are over 3000 and with a combined weight of over 6 kilograms. The gold artifacts are 38 different kinds, copper ones over 160, flint ones are over 230, and 90 are from stone and marble. Around 1100 bracelets, applications, etc. were made from the shells of Mediterranean molluscs.
Apart from the necropol finding the museum hosts unique artifacts from the Elinic, Roman and late antique era. There are over 2000 golden, silver, bronze, and copper coins. In six halls can be found 150 religious icons which is the second biggest collection in Bulgaria after the one in the National historical museum in Sofia.
The Museum has public transport available all around and is a great place to be a pick-up place for a rent a car in Varna. You can also rent a car in Varna through My Rent a Car with a pick-up point from Varna Airport, Varna Centre, Golden Sands, St. St. Constantine and Helena, Sunny day or other points within Varna and visit this great place.
The university botanical garden or simply referred to as ”the ecopark” was created in 1977. From 2002 it was open for visitation by the public as the first ecopark in Bulgaria. In 2004 it was announced as a protected land. The main reason for the park is the preservation of various flora outside its natural habitat as well as preserving endangered species from the world.
The park is located to the west of the St.St. Constantine and Helena resort just next to the main road between Varna and Golden Sands and is an easy place to visit via a rental car. The ecopark combines artificial and natural ecosystems. It’s territory is 360 acres and it’s collections contain over 300 different species of exotic trees and bushes, while the grass flora is over 100 species. There is a big collection of irises with over 250 different variations. The ecopark also has plants from all over the world such as: sea pine, tulip tree, ginkgo biloba, sterculia, iron tree, paper tree, evergreen oak, etc. A rosarium is located on its territory where over 30 species of roses are grown.
The park is also used for recreational purposes as it has half a dozen barbecue pits around it for use, a kids playground, a chapel and other places which can be used by the public.
There is also an academic jockey club, where horse riding lessons can be taken with an instructor, or a free ride for advanced riders. The club organizes an annual national equestrian tournament for the cup of the Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski.
Another annual tradition in the park is the celebration of Todor’s day – traditional horse races, donkey wagons, and prizes for the most beautiful horses are given. A biological station is also present, which offers summer internships and school practices for university students, as well as green schools for younger students.
A fantastic place to relax which can help you bring a different vibe to your holiday than the beaches in the Golden Sands, St.St. Constantine and Helena, or the Varna region in general. If you want to visit you can take advantage of My Rent a Car and visit the park by getting a car of your choosing anywhere from Varna Airport, Varna Centre, Golden Sands, St. St. Constantine and Helena, Sunny day or other points within Varna.
The Varna Dolphinarium is located in the Northern part of the Sea Garden in Varna. It’s not only the sole dolphinarium in the Varna region, but also in the whole of Bulgaria. It was founded on the 11th of August 1984 and has 1200 seats. The pools are filled in with sea water using a specialised pump system. The pool itself is 12 metres by 15 metres and a depth of 6 metres. The water is pumped from the Black Sea around 150 metres from the shore at a depth of 3-6m where it’s cleanest and also undergoes additional filtration before reaching the pool. The dolphinarium also features a cafe with a transparent wall to the aquarium where the dolphins reside. You can get a public transport bus 409 to the dolphinarium from the Varna airport as there is a bus stop nearby and the you can use the same bus to reach it from the Golden Sands, St.St. Constantine and Helena, Sunny Day etc., if you are residing in any of those places near Varna. Parking is also available for your rent-a-car in the neighbourhood north of the Sea Garden.
Varna Dolphinarium
In the Dolphinarium itself there are 5 dolphins – 3 female and 2 male. Kimbo and Dolly (the parents) were brought from the shores of Guatemala and Cuba. while Joanna, Bimbo, and Flipper were born in the dolphinarium itself.
The idea behind creating such a facility on the shores of Bulgaria was introduced for the first time by the zoologist Nikolay Boev. He first proposed a dolphinarium to be created in Southern Bulgaria. For a whole decade Nikolay did not give up on his idea and a plan for the construction was added in the plan for the creation of the Ropotamo National park. The plan however fell apart and the dolphinarium was subsequently built in Varna.
The Varna Dolphinarium makes for a great place to visit with family or friends, and My Rent a Car Varna can easily help in such an endeavour through the selection of rent-a-car family-friendly vehicle options in Varna.
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