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Building Boom Swallows Heritage Sites in Bulgaria

28 07 2006  Important remains are disappearing as a result of unclear preservation laws.

By Ekaterina Terzieva in Plovdiv, Varna and Sofia (Balkan Insight, 28 July 06)

Precious archeological sites are disappearing under bricks and concrete in Bulgaria, as the law fails to take account of the pressure of the construction boom.

Important layers of the country are disappearing, historians complain, as Prehistoric and Classical Greek and Roman ruins vanish under new roads and buildings.

They charge the authorities with neglecting to come up with workable measures that will enable the country to protect its national heritage without impeding the flourishing building industry.

More than 38,000 registered archeological monuments exist in Bulgaria today. Currently , they are protected by an ambiguous law, dating back to 1969, which was not designed to cope with the capitalist building boom of the 21st century.

The three biggest cities, Sofia, Varna and Plovdiv, all lie on the Ancient Greek and Roman settlements of Serdika, Odessos and Philipopolis.

Extensive rebuilding of the three city centres over the past ten years, as Bulgaria's economy grows faster than it has done for decades, has led to numerous battles between private businesses and archeologists.

While many scientists and historians argue the public interest in maintaining the historic sites, the government often does not. The former lack crucial access to the funds they need for their work.

The government allocates only 450,000 levs (about 230,000 euro) a year for the conservation and maintenance of archeological sites. This is far too little to permit either state institutions or local authorities to explore and manage the country's rich archeological heritage.

“Divided by 38,000 it makes only six levs (just over three euro) per monument,” said Bozhidar Dimitrov, director of the National History Museum .

He said the shortage of funds had forced archeologists to try to raise money for new excavations on their own.

With the sale of museum tickets bringing in only an insignificant amount of revenue, many had turned to non-governmental organi s ations, or to budgets of other countries.

A shortage of cash had also forced speciali s ed state institutions and local authorities to entrust archeological sites to private hands. But the current unclear laws on the subject gave little guarantee that these sites would be properly taken care of.

Some have even been ruined.

A Neolithic settlement, a prehistoric temple and part of a Roman street were amongst historic sites destroyed in recent years in Plovdiv, for example. It happened when businessmen either proceeded with building without permission, or breached their obligations under agreements reached with relevant authorities.

The biggest Roman coliseum in the Balkans, with an arena only slightly smaller than the famous Coliseum in Rome, was found during construction of a hotel in the centr e of Sofia . A nd as the investor was allowed to proceed, its ruins would be part of lobby and basement interior of the new building.

Experts say many similar cases have occurred in smaller towns and have gone unnoticed by the general public.

Although the courts are empowered to sentence those guilty of destroying national or archeological heritage to between three and seven years in prison, no one has been jailed so far, said Dimitrov .

The inefficient current law was amended a number of times after the fall of the communist regime at 1989, but the changes did not improve it significantly.

A new heritage law is now in preparation, which will be discussed in parliament later this year. Historians say the main fault of the exist ing Cultural Monuments and Museums Act is that it allows for the sale of land that contains heritage sites.

At the same time , it is so ambiguously worded that it leaves open the possibility for such deals to be attacked in the courts.

“The act is unclear - on the one hand it is outrageous to sell sites such as the Roman Forum or the basilica in Plovdiv,” said Violeta Raeva, of the National Institute for Monuments of Culture, the state institution in charge of archeological sites.

“But on the other hand, many private properties lie on archeological sites , which is why it is permitted to own real estate with archeological heritage on it . ”

The ambiguities in the law have led to numerous court cases involving businessmen who have bought property with important monuments on it.

While legal challenges to such sales drag on for years, precious archeological find s can remain unprotected, neglected, and often even destroyed.

The land containing a Roman forum in the centr e of Plovdiv, for example, was bought in 2003 for 1.24 million levs (about 550,000 euro) by a private company.

The company immediately announced it planned to build a business centre on the site.

Members of parliament asked the state prosecutor to check the deal and while the businessmen and the local and state authorities have been fighting over it in court for the last three years, the site remains wild, overgrown with trees and bushes and covered with litter.

Another problem with the current heritage act is that it does not state how matters should proceed if builders chance on an archeological site while digging .

The law states only that the construction company is obliged to inform the relevant authorities, who are obliged to order an archeological survey, financed by the investor.

But while the text of the act may appear to be in compliance with the best practice in EU countries, it is not. As it was adopted under the then Socialist era, the “investor” referred to in the text is assumed to be a state company.

Therefore, the law also says if the investors do not have enough money to undertake the research, they should be financially supported by the state.

Experts from the National Institute for Monuments of Culture insist that this is quite wrong and that businessmen should finance whatever study of archeological remains is necessary.

T his principle , though, has only been recently and reluctantly accepted by private business.

“The law is not really fair, but at the end of the day protection of archeology should be the priority , ” sa id Gerge Trak, a businessman , who found a part of a Roman street, mosaics and ruins of public building from the 3 rd century AD, while building a trade centr e in one of the Plovdiv subways. Now the find s are displayed at a special hall in the subway.

Trak says one should plan for such expenses when starting building operations, the same way infrastructure expenses are planned. “If an investor doesn't want to bother, he should better switch to another business , ” he added.

Violeta Raeva said that a literal reading of the law obliged the state to take care of searches and studies of historic sites.

“But things move much faster when it is the companies that participate”, she added, “so much clearer regulations are needed . ”

Some municipalities, such as Varna, have established their own local regulations to cope with the deficiencies in the legal situation.

“After 1989, during the first boom in entrepreneurship, people were starting to build without even giving any notice to archeologists , ” said Alexander Minchev, of the Archeology Museum in Varna .

He said that for this reason, about ten years ago archeological experts in the Varna municipality pushed through a decision obliging construction companies to pay for any surveys of archeological heritage found on their s ites .


Ekaterina Terzieva is a BIRN contributor. Balkan Insight is BIRN's online publication.