Madara Rider
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How it came to be
On a cliff about 100 metres high near the village of Madara in north-eastern Bulgaria, a horseman is carved spearing a lion. The relief dates from the early years of the First Bulgarian Empire, at the start of the 8th century, in the reign of Khan Tervel, and it has no parallel in Europe.
Inscriptions beside it record the reigns of the khans Tervel, Kormisosh and Omurtag. Before Bulgaria accepted Christianity in the 9th century, Madara was its main sacred place.
The meaning of the figure is uncertain; it seems to combine Bulgar horseman traditions with Thracian cult elements. The unstable rock and erosion by wind and water threaten it. It was inscribed in 1979.
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