0555-0557, 3319 BULGARIA (Burgas) - Ancient City of Nessebar (UNESCO WHS)

3319 The Ancient City of Nessebar

For miles, the road from Varna to Nessebar creeps like a snake along the coast, through the forests where coniferous and deciduous mix like the ethnic groups in the Balkans. But that's not what saw with three millennia ago the Thracians, who came from inland to built the settlement named Menebria, neither the Greeks, who came from the sea to lay the foundations of the prosperous colony named Mesembria. In 71 BC the town fell under Roman rule, yet continued to enjoy privileges, and from the 5th century AD onwards had become one of the most important strongholds of the Byzantine Empire.

0555 A bird's-eye view of the Ancient City of Nessebar

In the following centuries it passed several times from the hands of the Byzantines in those of the Bulgarians, and even of the Crusaders in 1366. The Bulgarian version of the name, Nesebar or Mesebar, has been attested since the 11th century. Conquered by the Ottomans in the same year as Constantinople (1453), it gradually declined until returned to Bulgaria in 1885, becoming since the beginning of the 20th century a key Bulgarian seaside resort.

0556 The Church of Christ Pantocrator in Nessebar

As an "outstanding testimony of multilayered cultural and historical heritage", a place where many civilizations left their tangible traces, from the DoriansBlack Sea colony's structures to the churches from the Middle Ages and the vernacular wooden houses built in the 19th century, Nessebar was included on the list of UNESCO WHS under the name Ancient City of Nessebar. It is sometimes said to be the town with the highest number of churches per capita, because a total of forty churches had survive, wholly or partly, in the vicinity of the town. Its ancient part is situated on a little peninsula, previously an island, linked with the mainland with only a relatively narrow passageway.

0557 The windmill on the passageway from New Nessebar to Old Nessebar

One of them is the Church of Christ Pantocrator (in the second postcard), constructed in the 13th-14th century and best known for its exterior decoration, rich and colourful. Designed in late Byzantine cross-in-square style, was builded from stones and brickwork, a construction technique known as opus mixtum. Used today as art gallery, is among Bulgaria's best preserved churches of the Middle Ages.

The Old Windmill shown in the third postcard, located on the passageway from New Nessebar to Old Nessebar, is a lovely, very intact Black Sea style wildmill. Aren't known too much about it, but it's supposed that was built in the Bulgarian revival period from the 17th to the 19th century. The building have a rough style, the design being entirely functional. The windmill base reveals a wooden guiderail and direct wood-to-wood contact.

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