Temple in Shushmanets mound

A masterpiece of the Thracian architecture is the temple tomb in Shushmanets mound. It consists of a passage, a facade , an antechamber and a round chamber. The passage is built of river and crushed stones and once used to have a wooden roof structure with tiles. The facade was once decorated with a pediment, that fact evidenced by a semi-palmette shaped antefiks, found during the excavation works.

The antechamber is rectangular, with a semi-cylindrical vault, decorated in the middle with an elegant Ionic-style column. In the antechamber the remains of four sacrificed horses and two dogs were found.

Above the entrance to the central chamber a pediment  is embossed with an acroterium in the shape of a palmette and two antefiks at the sides.  On the internal side of this entrance there have been  installed two lacunar stone doors decorated with incised stylize sun discs colored in red.

The burial chamber has a round shape and a domed cover. In the center and under the keystone a graceful Doric-style column rises. The walls are split into three horizontal bands, as the first one has seven semi-columns in Doric style.

The facade and the two chambers have been covered with shiny white fine plaster / now preserved mainly in the round chamber/. The tomb dates back to IV century BC.