Tatul - the Village of the Gods

Only 15 minutes away from Kardzhali has hidden a stone village. It is not only its name that is strange - Tatul. Most of the houses there are well carved out of stone blocks. Once, local people have brought them from the castles that had existed centuries ago in these places. Tatul excavations found out the site to have been an exceptional religious center about 4000 years ago, significant for the whole Eastern Mediterranean. Incredible collection of seals prove a clear link of the sacred spot to the live of sevast George Palaiologos, a famous historical person who lived in the period 1081-1115. He is the founder of the famous Palaiologos Dynasty, Byzantine emperors family in XIII-XV century. Several of the found 30 clay altars for sacrifices are from a completely unknown period of the middle Bronze Age - XIX-XVIII century B.C. Among the findings one can find dozens of whole vessels, that have been put around the altars, religious objects like the three wheels for the models of the celestial chariot, the top of a priest’s scepter, pottery with images of the solar cult, as well as a gold plate, par of a mask from the Mycenae period. An idol of the early Iron Age – a roughly made male figure, proves that religious activity had continued in that period as well.