The most beautiful pieces from the rich
collection of antique gold decorations belonging to the Museum are
exhibited here. They were discovered in Odessos, the surroundings
and in the antique Marcianopolis. This fact makes them significant
proofs for the aesthetic ideas and the material welfare of the population
of this region throughout the Antiquity.
Among the various in form rings,
earrings and bracelets attention should be paid to the unique set
of a young Thracian woman consisting of a necklace with a bull's
head pendant and two earrings – miniature statuettes of the goddess
of victory Nike. The earrings have been worked out at the end of
4th century or the early 3rd century BC and are the most beautiful
jewelry masterpieces of the type.
Exceptional are the round filigreed
earrings found in Odessos, Galata /4th – 3rd century BC/, the necklace
with an embossed pendant representing Eros and two goddesses /3rd
–2nd century BC/, the Thracian fibula and a bracelet from the village
of Dolishte.
A treasure found in Varna /outside
the territory of the antique town/ reveals the welfare and the aestheticism
of the population in the late Antiquity period – 5th –6th century
AD. It consists of filigree bracelets embossed with pearls and green
enamel, a filigree diadem with pearls, a big cross from a necklace
richly decorated with enamel and semi-precious stones, as well as
fragments of other gold jewelry.
Besides this treasure testifying to the
spreading of Christianity to the same fact testifies the exceptional
set of three reliquaries – an alabaster, a silver and a gold one
dated 4th-5th century AD found in an early Christian basilica in
the region of Djanavara, the surroundings of Odessos.
The finds from an early Christian
grave from Marcianopolis – a gold fibula, a clasp, a belt buckle
and an amulet dated 4th century AD once again confirm the spread
of Christianity along the Western Black Sea coast.
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