The Salt Museum in Pomorie is a specialized outdoor museum – visitors may see both the museum building and the 20 decares of salt-pans adjacent to the museum, where salt is still being produced. The museum showcases the ancient
Anchialos method for salt production and in particular
sea salt
Sea salt is salt that is produced by the evaporation of seawater. It is used as a seasoning in foods, cooking, cosmetics and for preserving food. It is also called bay salt, solar salt, or simply salt. Like mined rock salt, production of sea s ...
. It is dedicated to the production of salt through solar evaporation of seawater. This is the only salt museum in
Southeast Europe
Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe (SEE) is a geographical subregion of Europe, consisting primarily of the Balkans. Sovereign states and territories that are included in the region are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia (a ...
.
Salt Museum, Pomorie
/ref>
The production of sea salt was the main livelihood and wealth of Pomorie
Pomorie ( bg, Поморие ), historically known as Anchialos (Greek: Αγχίαλος), is a town and seaside resort in southeastern Bulgaria, located on a narrow rocky peninsula in Burgas Bay on the southern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast.
It is s ...
in the Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
. There is evidence and it can be assumed that the ancient colony Anchialos of Apollonia, Thrace
Sozopol ( bg, Созопол , el, Σωζόπολη, translit=Sozopoli) is an ancient seaside town located 35 km south of Burgas on the southern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. Today it is one of the major seaside resorts in the country, known for the ...
originated in the 5th century BC, around the extraction of sea salt. In all probability, the tradition is connected and transferred from the ancient and neighboring Solnitsata
Solnitsata ( bg, Солницата, "The Saltworks") was a prehistoric town located in present-day Bulgaria, near the modern city of Provadia. Believed by archaeologists to be the oldest town in Europe, Solnitsata was a fortified stone settlemen ...
.
The Pomorie salt pans were a major supplier of salt to Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth ( Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
and the Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...
, where Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...
was an alternative center. It was not until the Middle Ages that the extraction of rock salt began in Salina Turda
Salina Turda ( hu, Tordai sóbánya) is a salt mine in the Durgău-Valea Sărată area of Turda, the second largest city in Cluj County, northwest Romania. Opened for tourists in 1992, the Salina Turda mine was visited by about 618,000 Romanian and ...
.
The concessionaire of the Pomorie salt pans in the 16th century
The 16th century begins with the Julian year 1501 ( MDI) and ends with either the Julian or the Gregorian year 1600 ( MDC) (depending on the reckoning used; the Gregorian calendar introduced a lapse of 10 days in October 1582).
The 16th centur ...
was Michael Kantakouzenos Şeytanoğlu
Michael Kantakouzenos or Cantacuzenus ( el, Μιχαὴλ Καντακουζηνός, 1510 – died 3 March 1578), nicknamed Şeytanoğlu ( Turkish for "son of the Devil"), was an Ottoman Greek magnate, noted for his immense wealth and political i ...
, known by his Ottoman nickname "''son of Satan''" as ''Archon
''Archon'' ( gr, ἄρχων, árchōn, plural: ἄρχοντες, ''árchontes'') is a Greek word that means "ruler", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the masculine present participle of the verb stem αρχ-, mean ...
of Constantinople'' under Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman I ( ota, سليمان اول, Süleyman-ı Evvel; tr, I. Süleyman; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the West and Suleiman the Lawgiver ( ota, قانونى سلطان سليمان, Ḳ ...
, and as a cousin of Russia's first tsar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the te ...
, Ivan the Terrible
Ivan IV Vasilyevich (russian: Ива́н Васи́льевич; 25 August 1530 – ), commonly known in English as Ivan the Terrible, was the grand prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and the first Tsar of all Russia from 1547 to 1584.
Iv ...
.
See also
* History of salt
Salt, also referred to as table salt or by its chemical formula NaCl (sodium chloride), is an ionic compound made of sodium and chloride ions. All life depends on its chemical properties to survive. It has been used by humans for thousands of ...
* Lake Pomorie
Lake Pomorie ( bg, Поморийско езеро, ''Pomoriysko ezero'') is the northernmost of the coastal Burgas Lakes, located in the immediate proximity of the Black Sea and the Bulgarian town of Pomorie. It has an area of 8.5 km2 (reach ...
* Battle of Achelous (917)
The Battle of Achelous or Acheloos ( bg, Битката при Ахелой, el, Μάχη του Αχελώου), also known as the Battle of Anchialus,Stephenson (2004), p. 23 took place on 20 August 917, on the Achelous river near the Bulga ...
References
{{Authority control
Pomorie
Salt museums
History of salt
Museums in Burgas Province
Open-air museums in Bulgaria
Natural history museums in Bulgaria
History museums in Bulgaria
2002 establishments in Bulgaria
Museums established in 2002