The Madara rider

This is situated 1.5 km east of the Madara village. This is a Medieval stone relief located at 23 meters of height
on a vertical rock of the Madara plateau. This is the only monument in Europe declared by UNESCO a monument with
world significance.

The relief represents a life- size horse rider, turned right. Using a spike, the rider stabs the lion,
lying in his legs. A dog runs after the knight. The scene probably represents important historical events and
gives an idea of the Medieval Bulgarian art. The composition is supposed to be Khan Tervel, because three groups
of inscriptions - Chronics have been added. The first inscription dates back to Khan Tervel (8th century) and the
two further down are Khan Kormish in the left and Khan Omurtag in the right.


The weather and erosions damaged the inscriptions, but from the leftover of the text, we can have an insight of
the composition.

The inscriptions of Madara although was written in Greek, it symbolizes the power of the young Bulgarian
nation established in the Balkan.

Source: visit.bg