Deultum-Debelt archaeological reserve near Sredets wins "Wonder of the Year 2026" award

The Deultum-Debelt National Archaeological Reserve near Sredets has won the "Wonder of the Year 2026" category in the national "Wonders of Bulgaria" campaign.

The award recognises the reserve's work and this season's discovery by Prof. Lyudmil Vagalinski: the skeleton of a young man inside a huge dolium, a grain storage jar. The man took shelter in the vessel when the city came under attack, and died there.

Experts will set the exact date once they have studied the rest of the excavation data. The report on the find drew the biggest response in Bulgaria and abroad.

President Iliana Yotova presented the award at a ceremony at the Ivan Vazov National Theatre in Sofia. Krasimira Kostova, manager of the reserve and director of the Sredets Municipal History Museum, accepted it.

Others honoured in the same category include Prof. Nikolay Ovcharov, for his discoveries at the Rock City of Perperikon, and Chief Assist. Prof. Stilyan Ivanov. Ivanov won for the glass rhyton "Horn of Plenty", a rare find from the village of Blaskovo in Provadia municipality.

The "Wonders of Bulgaria" awards were given out for the 16th time. The Cultural Heritage Society, Bulgaria's representative in Europa Nostra, the European organisation for protecting cultural heritage, organises them. The head of state is patron of the campaign.

Veterans of the Eighth Augustan Legion founded the Roman colony of Deultum, known as "Little Rome in Thrace".