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© Ivan Atanasov /
Ivaylovgrad Mayor Diana Ovcharova (third from right to left) and Haskovo Regional Governor Stanislav Dachev (next to her) have come up for a photo on the 4th century mosaics in “Villa Armira”. The photo is from 2017.
Ivaylovgrad Mayor Diana Ovcharova (GERB) and Haskovo Regional Governor Stanislav Dachev have set a “personal example” for violating the ban on stepping on ancient mosaics at the Villa Armira historical monument near Ivaylovgrad. This is demonstrated by several photographs published by the electronic edition “Por la Verdad”.
The first of the photos is from 2017. It shows Diana Ovcharova with five other participants in an evening of poetry, sitting on chairs placed directly on the mosaics from the 4th century.
© Ivan Atanasov /
Diana Ovcharova (third from left to right) among the participants in an evening of poetry organized in Villa Armira
Three more photos, but from 2018, have captured moments of the show “Pebble in the mosaic of Europe”, also presented directly in the mosaics of the “Armira” villa. For a photo after the end, all the participants of the show stepped on the historical monument in shoes. Haskovo Regional Governor Stanislav Dachev and again Diana Ovcharova were photographed together with them.
© Ivan Atanasov /
Participants in the show “Coup of the mosaic of Europe”
During a wedding ceremony last Sunday, the guests were photographed walking on the mosaics during a ritual led by Ovcharova herself. The wedding photos were posted on Facebook by Dimitar Ivanov. In his profile, he said that after making a comment, the mayor of Ivaylovgrad told him personally that it was not his job to monitor order at the museum. She then explained to the wedding guests that they had no problem stepping on the mosaics, including the heels, as they were glued very tightly and also treated with special materials.
On Monday, when asked by BTV, Ovcharova was hospitalized and instead her deputy Svetla Millova gave an explanation for the unacceptable attitude towards the historic monument. According to her, it was necessary to step on the mosaics due to the mandatory distance of 1.5 m between the wedding guests to meet the anti-epidemic requirements of the Ministry of Health. However, the published photos from 2017 and 2018 completely refute this justification.
© Ivan Atanasov /
The mosaics of the 4th century in the villa “Armira” as natural decoration of the show “Pebble of the mosaic of Europe”
As early as Tuesday, the Ministry of Culture began an inspection to determine whether the monument was of national importance. “This is definitely a violation of the Cultural Heritage Law, the Ivaylovgrad municipality, which manages the site, must protect it from demolition, which definitely does not include walking on the mosaic,” said Slavi Slavov, regional inspector of the General Directorate of Cultural Preservation. heritage “in the Ministry of Culture.
Villa Armira is one of the four Roman villas in the world that have been preserved to this day. It was discovered in 1964 during the construction of the Ivaylovgrad Dam. For its exquisite marble decoration, but also for its mosaics, it is called the Jewel of the Eastern Rhodopes. Some time ago, the monument was renovated with almost 2 million BGN, contributed by funds from the European Union. In February this year Ivaylovgrad Municipality signed a contract for the implementation of the project “Sustainable development of an archaeological site – ancient Armira village near Ivaylovgrad” under the procedure “Development of tourist attractions”. The funding amounts to almost BGN 8 million, which will be provided by the “Growing Regions” operational program.
