CULTURAL HERITAGE OF THE TOWN OF NESSEBAR (E BULGARIA) IN THE
CONDITIONS OF SEA LEVEL’S VARIATIONS AND SEA EROSION
M. MATOVA
Geological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia 1113, Bulgaria
e-mail: matova@geology.bas.bg
The town of Nessebar is situated 36 km to the
NE of the town of Bourgas. It is located in the
northern periphery of the Bourgas bay. The town
of Nessebar is perched on a small and rocky
(Sarmatian calcareous sandstone) peninsula with the
same name. The connection of the Nessebar
peninsula with the mainland is represented by a
rocky (Sarmatian calcareous sandstone) strip. The
sizes of the peninsula are the following: 850 m in
length, 300 m in width, 15 m in height. The strip,
that connected the peninsula with the mainland, is
narrow and low: 10-12 m in width, 300 m in length,
3 m in height. The church complex and the old town
of Nessebar represent protected by UNESCO
cultural heritage since 1983.
The town of Nessebar is a town-museum,
which evolution is closely related to the sea level’s
variations. The traces of tens of centuries human
existence have been found over the Nessebar
peninsula. They were represented by remains of an
Thracian port and stone anchors. The cited traces
had shown that the Nessebar peninsula was already
inhabited in the 4th-2nd millennia BC. The sea level’s
variation were between 4-5m higher than recent one
and approximately the recent one during
the mentioned past period. The intensive growing of
the settlement is related to the beginning of the
Greek colonization of the Black Sea coast, included
in the actual territory of Bulgaria. The name of the
town was Messembria. Its translation was “a town
inside a sea”. The brisk trade of the town needed
the special attention for its security and the large
development of the sea transport. The fortification
of the peninsula was realized mainly during the 5th4th c. BC. Two more ports were built. The 5th c. BC
could be characterized by the lowest sea level. In the
4th c. BC the most eastern part of the peninsula was
400 m to the E of the recent one. The next periods
are the Roman (1st c. BC) and the Byzantine one
(4th-6th c. AD). In the beginning of the 1st c. AD
the rise of the sea level reaches up to the value
of 1.5-2 m higher than the recent one. The Byzantine
period was marked by the annexation of the town to
the Byzantine Empire. The town became
an Episcopal center, where basilicas, baths,
fortification walls, gates and pentagonal towers was
built. In 812 the town was captured by Khan Krum,
who changed its name to Nessebar. Later, the town
was ruled by Byzantines, the Bulgarians in
succession. Over 50 churches and chapels with
luxurious decorations were created by its Bulgarian
and Greek population during the Middle Age. Only
14 of them are partially or totally saved till present
day. The Middle Age is a period of relatively low
sea level. About 80 stone-wooden constructions
represent historical monuments of the Bulgarian
Renaissance (12th-19th c.c.). The rise of the sea
level was intensive up to the middle of the 19th c.,
when the level reaches the value, that is similar to
the recent one.
From the middle of the 19th c. the rise of the
sea level is with small variations. Today the speed
of the rise is about 3 mm/a. The recent rise of the
sea level causes the new loss of the peninsula’s
territory and the reduction of the town of Nessebar.
The sea level’s rise in the past is testified by
the traces of several churches in the sea. Some
more, the long-term variation of the sea level
during
the previous periods is also of a great importance
for the evolution of the Nessebar peninsula.
The very intensive variations of the sea levels
during the Quaternary glacial and post-glacial
intervals, before the foundation of the settlement,
were the cause for significant changes in the sea
coast. The Nessebar peninsula was a part or of the
sea coast, or of the shelf in the cited intervals.
The stability of the rocks was considerably
decreased by the above cited variations.
The sea erosion of the rocky Nessebar
peninsula and of its very low strip are also of a
great importance for its previous and next
evolution. The slopes of the peninsula and the strip
were and will be subjected to very intensive sea
erosion. The Sarmatian sediments are not very
compact rocks. Its calcareous component permits
the development of certain karst phenomena.
The destruction of the peninsula is of a middle
intensity, with a mean speed of the erosion of 8-9
mm/a (Marinski, 1998). The recent strong storms
are also very dangerous. During some of them
a part of the peninsula and the whole strip are in
the sea. The recent destructive processes, mainly
the variations of the sea level and the sea erosion,
are dangerous for the cultural heritage.
REFERENCES
Marinski, J. (Edit.-in-Chief). 1998. Protection and
long-term stabilization of the slopes of the Black
Sea coasts. Acad. Publ. House “Prof. M. Drinov”,
Sofia , 199 p.
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