In Bulgaria an ancient city is about to reappear from the bottom of a lake. The city is called Seuthopolis and dates from the fourth century before Christ.
Image(Copyright Tilev Architects) (click-2-enlarge)Seuthopolis was founded in 323 BCE by the Thracian king Seuthes III, who is believed to have lived from around 330 BCE to around 300 BCE. It is known that the city was the capital of the Odrysian kingdom and vanished in 270 BCE. Its ruins suggest that the place had been an important political and economic center, as well as containing evidence of the Thracian culture and traditions.
Image(Copyright Tilev Architects) (click-2-enlarge) The city was discovered and researched between 1948 and 1954, when the reservoir's building began. At that time, an extensive photographic and archaeological evidence was gathered, but the significance of the discovery was appreciated when the reservoir's construction was under way and impossible to stop. Unfortunately,The discovery came too late, because under construction nearby was a reservoir dam, which would soon flood the valley and drown “the best preserved Thracian city in modern Bulgaria.”
Image(Copyright Tilev Architects) (click-2-enlarge) Over half a century later, a project proposed by Bulgarian architect Zheko Tilev would uncover and preserve the ruins using “A Circular Dam Wall, resembling a well on the bottom of which, as on a stage, is presented the historical epic of Seuthopolis.” The city lies 20m below the water level of Koprinka reservoir near the city of Kazanluk in central Bulgaria.
Image(Copyright Tilev Architects) (click-2-enlarge)
Image(Copyright Tilev Architects) (click-2-enlarge)Architect Zheko Tilev presented a restoration plan for the ancient Thracian city of Seuthopolis in 2007, the next step of the campaign for preservation and exposure of the archaeological site is to attract both Bulgarian and foreign investors to secure the 150 million euro needed to carry it out,
Most everything about the project is theatrical: “Approaching the surrounding ring by boat from the shore Seuthopolis is completely hidden for the eye. But the view from the wall is breathtaking - with its scale, comprehensiveness and unique point of view; from the boundary between past and present. The possibility to see the city from the height of 20 meters allows the perception of its entirety.”
Most everything about the project is theatrical: “Approaching the surrounding ring by boat from the shore Seuthopolis is completely hidden for the eye. But the view from the wall is breathtaking - with its scale, comprehensiveness and unique point of view; from the boundary between past and present. The possibility to see the city from the height of 20 meters allows the perception of its entirety.”
Image(Copyright Tilev Architects) (click-2-enlarge)Once there, and if your interest in exploring archaeological sites wanes considerably faster than expected, there are other things to do on the ring-wall. For instance, there will be restaurants, cafes, shops, bike rental facilities, and also other facilities for various recreational sports and fishing.Being a number of decades under water, the city is still well preserved, archaeologist Maria Chichikova has said, and it is a great example of modern civil engineering and planning.
Image(Copyright Tilev Architects) (click-2-enlarge)Programmed as “a unique modern tourist complex,” the ring-wall will also house a museum, a hotel complex, open-air exhibitions, concert and festival halls, conference centers, and hanging gardens.According to Tilev, the site could welcome more than half a million foreign tourists a year. The project has generated interest from various foreign cultural institutes as well as from Greece through a programme for three-sided collaboration.
Image(Copyright Tilev Architects) (click-2-enlarge)There are three sites where this should be done as well:
1- New Orleans (i.e., having abandoned the city, its inhabitants now live and work and die on grossly heightened and fattened levees; everyone will laugh at them, but when the deluge comes, they will have the last laugh)
2- Alexandria , More information1- New Orleans (i.e., having abandoned the city, its inhabitants now live and work and die on grossly heightened and fattened levees; everyone will laugh at them, but when the deluge comes, they will have the last laugh)
3-Yonaguni
Image(Copyright Tilev Architects) (click-2-enlarge)
Image(Copyright Tilev Architects) (click-2-enlarge)
No comments:
Post a Comment