Mezek ( bg, Мезек) is a village in southeastern

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

, part of

Svilengrad Svilengrad ( bg, Свиленград; el, Σβίλενγκραντ; ota, Cisr-i Mustafapaşa) is a town in Haskovo Province, south-central Bulgaria, situated at the border of Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece. It is the administrative centre of the h ...

municipality,

Haskovo Province Haskovo Province ( bg, Област Хасково - ''Oblast Haskovo'', former name ''Haskovo okrug'') is a province in southern Bulgaria, neighbouring Greece and Turkey to the southeast, comprising parts of the Thracian valley along the river ...

. It lies at the foot of the eastern

Rhodope Mountains The Rhodopes (; bg, Родопи, ; el, Ροδόπη, ''Rodopi''; tr, Rodoplar) are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, and the largest by area in Bulgaria, with over 83% of its area in the southern part of the country and the remainder in ...

, just north of the Bulgaria–

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

border and not far west of the Bulgaria–

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

border. Mezek is famous for the well-preserved medieval Mezek Fortress (Neoutzikon - Νεούτζικον) and its two ancient

Thracian The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied t ...

beehive tomb A beehive tomb, also known as a tholos tomb (plural tholoi; from Greek θολωτός τάφος, θολωτοί τάφοι, "domed tombs"), is a burial structure characterized by its false dome created by corbelling, the superposition of suc ...

s, the Mezek and Sheynovets tombs. The village is also well known for its own winery and the Mezzek brand of

Bulgarian wine Grape growing and wine production have a long history in Bulgaria, dating back to the times of the Thracians. There is evidence of Bulgarian winemaking since 4000 B.C. Wine is, together with beer and grape rakia, among the most popular alcoholic be ...

Fortress and Tomb

The Mezek Fortress, in area, is claimed to be among the best preserved Bulgarian medieval castles. It dates to the 11th century. Along with the Thracian tombs, it was studied by a team under archaeologist

Bogdan Filov Bogdan Dimitrov Filov ( bg, Богдан Димитров Филов; 10 April 1883 – 1 February 1945) was a Bulgarian archaeologist, art historian and politician. He was prime minister of Bulgaria during World War II. During his tenure, Bulga ...

in 1931–1932. The castle has nine towers, five of which lie at the vulnerable south wall. The Mezek Fortress was built out of stone, with two decorative lines of bricks on the outside. It suffered some destruction around 1900, when stones from the fortress were used for the construction of Ottoman barracks in Svilengrad. The Mezek Thracian tomb dates to the 4th century BC. It is a large, elongated tomb that includes a covered passage of , two rectangular

antechamber A vestibule (also anteroom, antechamber, or foyer) is a small room leading into a larger space such as a lobby, entrance hall or passage, for the purpose of waiting, withholding the larger space view, reducing heat loss, providing storage space ...

s of different size and a round burial chamber with a stone

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...

. The number of burials of noble Thracians in the tomb was no less than four.

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

and

glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of ...

items and

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...

discovered in the tomb are today displayed in the National Archaeological Museum in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

Nature

There is an eco-trail Sheynovets peak starting at the center of the village. It's 7 km in length and requires around 6 hours for a return trip.

Mezek Peak Mezek Peak ( bg, връх Мезек, vrah Mezek, ) is a sharp peak rising to 1650 m in Imeon Range on Smith Island, South Shetland Islands. Situated 1.07 km east of Mount Pisgah and 4.02 km southwest by south of Mount Christi. Preci ...

Imeon Range Imeon Range ( bg, Хребет Имеон, ‘Hrebet Imeon’ \'hre-bet i-me-'on\) () is a mountain range occupying the interior of Smith Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Extending 30 km in southwest-northeast direction bet ...

on Smith Island in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 195 ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

is named after Mezek.

References

{{Castles in Bulgaria Villages in Haskovo Province Castles in Bulgaria Thracian sites