Idea #253 – Visiting the town of Sozopol on the Black Sea
Sozopol is a town of the oblast of Burgas, in the east of Bulgarias. The first human settlement on the site of Sozopol is attested in the fourth or the third millennium before J.C., most probably by representatives of the Thracian civilization. In the VIth century before J.C., Milet settles a colony under the name of Antheia there. This name was quickly changed in Apollonia – then Apollonia Pontica and Apollonia Magna – because of the presence of a temple dedicated to Apollo, among whom one of the colossal statues, transported later by Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus in Rome, will be placed in the Capitol.
In Ier century, name of Sozopolis began to appear in the history. Sozopol will be successively occupied by the Byzantine, the Bulgarians and the Ottomans. The latter called the city, according to periods, Sizebolu, Sizeboli or Sizebolou. The region of Sozopol was later christianized from the first ones centuries Jesus Christ. The city was the bishop’s see from 431. This one was suffragan of the archbishopric of Adrianopolis until XIVth century.
In 1808, the bishop’s palace was integrated into that of Akhtopol. After the Bulgarian independence in the XIXth century, the region of Sozopol was integrated in Bulgaria; almost all its Greek population moved in Greece and was replaced by Bulgarian refugees come from oriental Thrace. Today, Sozopol is doubtless one of the most pleasant and picturesque places on the maritime coast in Bulgaria. Its city center is completely protected. The big wooden houses, very characteristics of Sozopol appear at the end of the XVIIIth – the beginning of the XIXth century and so mark the Bulgarian revival. The city is classified on the UNESCO world heritage list.
Some Pictures
Where is it ?
Sozopol, Bulgaria
Larger Map
