The Murals - part II

The wall paintings in the Kazanluk Tomb were executed by an extremely skilled and talented artist of the Hellenistic age. A careful study of the murals reveals the principles that inspired the painter in his choice of composition for this complex work. It is quite obvious that the murals were executed on the basis of a preliminary design drawn upon the final fine layer of plaster. Even today faint lines incised on the wet plaster can be distinguished, marking out the plinths and the contours of the vault. The height of the panels in the corridor and burial chamber corresponds to the structural height of each chamber. The changes in the profile of the vaults in both chambers correspond exactly to the three panels of the murals and are marked by means of various architectural elements. Thus in the corridor the false vault starts with a slight slope towards the floor. Its height reaches exactly to the white band above the paintings of the stone slabs. The beginning of the red load-bearing wall marks the beginning of the second panel of the murals - this is the point where the vault turns sharply inwards. The third change in the shape of the vault in the corridor is marked with the cyma band beneath the frieze with acanthus and figures. This is the level at which the vault turns sharply, thus forming its triangular cross-section. The top of the vault is marked by a thick red line.

The vault in the burial chamber also begins with a slight curve at the level of the floor. The first change in the curvature is indicated by the black band above the imitation of stone slabs. This is the beginning of the second panel, which covers the red load-bearing wall. The dome has the shape of a beehive from the floor up to the top of the load-bearing wall. After that, it acquires a slightly bell-like shape, which is unique among Thracian domed tombs.

The original shape of the dome could be merely an interesting whim of the architect, but a more careful study reveals that this particular shape is closely related to the murals painted upon it, and more precisely to the large frieze. There is one very interesting point which gives us grounds for believing that the architecture and murals were designed together. The bell- shaped dome of the burial chamber offers the painter a surface with a shape that emphasizes the impact of the key element in the decorative scheme - the funeral feast. While designing the dome the artist already knew what he was going to paint inside. The profile of the false dome is a slightly convex-concave curve the convex part of which starts directly from the beginning of the entablature (the architrave), above which is the large frieze with the figures. The most convex part of the curve is not in the middle of the large frieze but at the beginning of the Ionic cornice above it. Above the cornice, at the place the three racing chariots are, the curve becomes slightly concave. Thus, at this point the surface is both concave and convex. the latter being less noticeable.

Thanks to this carefully designed curve of the wall, the painter succeeded in achieving a visual stretching of the figures in the large frieze which have proportions different from those of the chariots and the spaces between the three columns. The figures seem much higher than their actual height - 59 cm. Thus the painter has achieved an incredible perspective impact which is responsible for the monumentality of the frieze in the burial chamber. The artist was apparently familiar with this kind of central perspective. The pattern in the corridor and burial chamber was designed and executed in such a way that the basic elements of the painting stress the chief structural elements of the building.

In order to paint the murals in the burial chamber the artist had prepared a preliminary project which he needed in particular for the complex entablature with the large frieze. The entablature is in fact a complete circle with an eight-leafed rosette in the centre (marked with a dark red dot) from which the leaves stem. This is also the structural centre of the dome. The circle is divided into three concentric circles with different radii filled with the appropriate architectural elements of an entablature - architrave, frieze and cornice. The circle is divided into twenty-four parts by means of rays projecting from the centre. Each part has a centre with architectural motif (rosettes, bucranes, small columns, etc.). The rays are a very important point in the geometry of the painting. They organize the surface and contribute to the central perspective. The rays ensure the correct arrangement of the figures and direct them to a single point, which is the centre of the circle.

The pattern of the Kazanluk Tomb murals shows that they were not painted spontaneously; the paintings are a result of carefully premeditated artistic composition executed in accordance with a precise project. The architecture and the pattern of the composition were prepared together as an integrated work of art. It is clear that both were the work of one person - an artist-architect. We do not know where he acquired this extensive knowledge from. Obviously he had mastered the ancient building and artistic traditions of the Thracian lands. Furthermore, a person with knowledge and abilities could belong only to a restricted circle of well-educated people probably associated with Thracian religious customs. What sort of society produced the maker of the Kazanluk Tomb? There is no doubt that the Tomb was made at a time when the Thracian tribes had reached a particularly high level of socio-political development.

During the 5th - 4th Century B.C., the Thracian tribes living in South-east Thrace founded a state - the Kingdom of the Odrysae, founded under the leadership of the Odrysae tribe. Many monuments of the religious customs of the Thracians have been found in this area. A large number of them - those of great political importance for the history of the Odrysae in that they reveal the place and role of the tribal aristocracy - date from the end of the 5th Century up to the first decades of the 3rd Century B. C.

The first entirely preserved Thracian city, Seuthopolis, was discovered in the northern region of the Kingdom of the Odrysae - the Kazanluk valley. The Kazanluk Tomb is not far from Seuthopolis. The Tomb was built during the last decades of the 4th Century B.C. Its architecture and murals are closely related to the art and culture of the region of Seuthopolis.

The Kazanluk Tomb is a peak in the development of Hellenistic art. It is a significant contribution to the art of the entire Hellenistic world. The Tomb is an irrefutable proof of the high material and intellectual culture of the ancient Thracians, which were to be inherited by the Bulgarian nation later on.

The Thracian Tomb at Kasanluk was included in the list of monuments of world importance in 1979 because it is an exceptional achievement of human genius and a valuable testimony to an ancient civilization.