Madara Rider

I visited this WHS in 2023 as part of the northeastern Bulgaria hotspot. Of the inscribed lot in this hotspot, the Srebarna Nature Reserve seems to be rated as the worst, probably owing to its poor state of upkeep of any trails or tourist infrastructure but also because to the non-birder (and not only) it pales when compared to the Danube Delta nearby.

To me, however, Madara Rider ranked the lowest. It is an interesting site to visit while visiting Bulgaria, but its only highlight, the Madara rider relief, in my opinion lacks OUV and is more of an interesting niche national site. It isn't unique either as similar carbon images have been found in Saltovo, Soulek, Pliska and Veliki Preslav.

The horseman relief, almost life-size, is carved on a 100 metre vertical cliff. The Madara rider is facing right, and can be seen thrusting a spear into a lion lying at his horse's feet, while on the left a dog is running after the horseman. The carving of the rider's halo and garments, as well as the bird in front of the horseman's face, are barely recognizable due to centuries of erosion and the generally poor condition of the monument. This is even more noticeable if you try to approach/climb to the locked metal gate of the ugly green metal-frame platform just beneath it.

The meaning and symbolism of the sculpture are uncertain, as well as its actual masonry tradition and cultural source. The relief probably …

The Madara Rider is the symbol of the Bulgarian nation. An image of it can be found on the back of most of its coins for example. The relief carved into a cliff at an elevation of 23m is seen as the climax of pagan Bulgarian art. It shows a rider on a horse, attacking a lion with his spear. A dog walks behind the rider. Next to it are 3 inscriptions in Greek that refer to the Bulgarian rulers of the 8th and 9th centuries.

Madara lies an hour away from the Black Sea coast in Varna, where we started this day. "We" is the WH Travellers community, gathered for its annual meeting: 15 people from 10 countries and 3 continents. We travel for two days with rental cars through north-eastern Bulgaria, with the aim of visiting 4 World Heritage sites plus a few tentative sites.

After a pleasant start to the day in nearby Pobiti TWHS, we were in Madara before 10.30 am. Given the status of the site, one would expect a spacious terrain and buses with tourists. But it does not even have a parking lot: just dump your car by the side of the road. There are a few souvenir shops however and – after worrying beforehand and bringing our own snacks for lunch - we counted 3 restaurants to serve lunch.

To get to the relief with the rider, you have to tackle a stone staircase with more than 200 steps. …

Staying in Shumen overnight, I spent several hours in Madara in the afternoon. Took a bus to Madara and a train back to Shumen. From the bus / train station it's uphill walk for 1.5 km to the base of the National Historic and Archaeological Reserve, which includes the relief of the Madara Rider on the rock...cliff of a table mountain / plateau.

I think Madara Rider is my favorite WHS in Bulgaria, not just because of the relief, which is the core zone in itself, but of the whole reserve, which is basically the buffer zone. The reserve includes even some Neolithic and Thracian settlements, some Roman ruins (close to the train station), a 4th century fortress on top of the table mountain, and the remains from the middle age, which includes a monastery with cells for monks hewn into the cliff. In other words the reserve is a human history in a nut shell.

There is also a one-room museum, which was closed, but by asking around when it's open, someone managed to bring another person who opened the door for me for a few minutes. The room contained relevant artifacts from the archeological area. 

I spent the hours walking around and up and down. The dramatic mountain setting even reminded me of Masada in Israel.

The photo shows the locations of the Madara Rider relief on the cliff, the fortress on the table mountain top and the screen capturer on the edge of …

I’m from Bulgaria and my name is Stoil Stoilov.

I have been many times in the village of Madara visiting the historical Madara Horseman site. I have spent 10 years in research in the ancient Bulgarian history and found out many new facts and made some important conclusion about the ancient Bulgarian history and among hen about the origin and meaning of the Madara monument which I represented in a book.

The book “They called themselves Bulgarians”, ISBN 978-954-9447-83-5 of the author Stoil Traykov Stoilov sets out and proofs a number of new ideas about the origin of the Bulgarian people and the ancient Bulgarian history: • The Bulgarians are from indoaryan, saka (scythian), toharian and from some other peoples/tribes origin; • The main kings tribe was the Onogonduri tribe. It was composed from the population of an ancient highly developed country Gandhara > Gondur of nowadays Pakistan and the Chionite tribe (Oiono, Ounnoi). After heavy battles in 515 AD with the White huns of Toramana and his son Mihirakula they were forced to emigrate to the west in a total number of 800000 men and women. They were followed by the population of many other regions of nowadays Afghanistan, Pakistan and Northern India. • In 632 the Great Bulgaria was found; • In 680/681 kan Asparuh with the Onogondurs moved to the south of Danube to create the Danube Bulgaria. • It can be supposed that in 715 AD the very successful Bulgarian king Tervel ordered in memory of …

The image of the Madara Rider is clearly important to Bulgaria; it is reproduced on all of its stotinki coins. Certainly the site appears to be revered by Bulgarians, who flock to see the engraving.

What is amazing is the location of the carving. How did the artists reach the site so high above the ground 1400 years ago?

I reached the site by train from Shumen to Madara village. The site is quite a hike uphill from there, followed by a long flight of stairs.

I have visited the Madara site one week ago.

The horseman in itself is not such a wonder as you can imagine, but you can really percieve the flowing of millennia looking at it. The site is very quiet as all the Madara village and the sorroundings. You can walk to the rest of the site (caves, etc.) through paths in the vegetation. Many benches to sit all around and where meditate on history.

The Madara site is not far from the Madara railway station, you can easily walk there in 20-30 minutes.