Underwater archaeology of Bulgaria's Nessebar is now on UNESCO World Heritage List

UNESCO approved the extension of the territory of the World Heritage site "Ancient City of Nessebar" during the 45th extended session of the World Heritage Committee, held in Riyadh, capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, from 10 to 25 September 2023, the Ministry of Culture said on September 21.

The new area includes part of the water territory of Nessebar on the southern and northern sides of the peninsula.

The extension is at Bulgaria's suggestion and is the result of intensive research conducted by the Centre for Underwater Archaeology in Sozopol since 2017. During this research, which is a continuation of the work of prof. Lyubka Ognenova from the 1980s, parts of the fortress walls of ancient Mesambria have been discovered, which date back to Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

Images by Ministery of Culture

The new area also includes part of an ancient street and protective harbour structures. During its centuries-long development, due to the rise of the sea level in the Black Sea and the specific geological structure of the peninsula, the city lost about a quarter of its territory. For this reason, significant archaeological structures today lie under water.

The listing of the extended territory of Nessebar, which now includes the peninsula and the finds under water, makes the Ancient City stand out among other UNESCO sites for its unique combination of cultural heritage on land and under water. The proposal for the extension of the territory of the Ancient City of Nessebar has been submitted to UNESCO by the Ministry of Culture, the National Commission for UNESCO - Bulgaria, as well as experts from the National Institute for Immovable Cultural Heritage at the IC, with the active assistance of the Permanent Delegation of Bulgaria to UNESCO in Paris.

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Nesebar is an ancient city and one of the major seaside resorts on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, located in Burgas district.

The Ancient City of Nessebar is situated on a rocky peninsula on the Black Sea. The more than 3,000-year-old site of Nessebar was originally a Thracian settlement (Menebria). At the beginning of the 6th century BC, the city became a Greek colony. The city’s remains, which date mostly from the Hellenistic period, include the acropolis, a temple of Apollo, an agora and a wall from the Thracian fortifications. Among other monuments, the Stara Mitropolia Basilica and the fortress date from the Middle Ages, when this was one of the most important Byzantine towns on the west coast of the Black Sea. Wooden houses built in the 19th century are typical of the Black Sea architecture of the period.