The Sveshtari Tomb with the Karyatids

Discovered in 1982

Gallery

The tomb under Ginina Mound was discovered in 1982 and is part of the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1985. Ginina Mound is located in the north part of the east cemetery. The tomb stands out by its unusual layout: it has three faulted chambers, decorated by a unique combination of architectural, sculptural, and painted elements. In the central chamber the walls are decorated with the images of ten women in relief (karyatids), who can be read as representations of the Great Mother Goddess. The wall opposite them holds a scene in which the Thracian ruler is given immortality. There are two beds in the chamber, for the ruler and his wife. Following an earthquake in the early 3rd century BC the remains of the royal couple were re-buried, and only the skulls survive. A third burial was deposited in the chamber at a later date. The tomb contained a unique naiskos, separating out the ruler's bed - the most sacred space - from the rest of the chamber, which was shaped as a temple.

The tomb is dated to the end of the 4th - early decades of the 3rd century BC. It is suggested that the person buried under Ginina Mound was the Getic ruler Dromichaites.