The ivory icon found in Rusokastro is displayed for the first time in public

On 19 May, at 18:00, an extremely rare and valuable find - ivory icon, found during the excavations of the Rusokastro fortress in 2017, will be presented in the Treasure Hall of the Archaeological Museum in Бургас (21, Bogoridi Str.) The discovery will be displayed for the first time infront of the general public.

The icon is two-sided. At the front are depicted archangel Gabriel in the left and St. Basil the Great. On the reverse - two crosses. The icon was made in the middle of the 10th century in Constantinople and belonged to a Byzantine emperor or a member of the imperial family. Such icons were produced in private rulers' studios only for members of the closest circle around the emperor. Findings such as this one today can be seen only in the collections of the world's largest museums, such as the Louvre, the Museum of Berlin, the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum, and now also the Burgas Museum.

Such exquisite works are stored in the treasures of the largest Western European cathedrals. They were donated there by the knights of the Fourth Crusade, who carried them after the sacking of the Emperor's Treasury in Constantinople in 1204.

During excavations, such a find is discovered only for the second time in the world. Interestingly, the first one was also found in Bulgaria in the distant 1901. Then the French archaeologist Georges Sierre discovered a fragment of such an icon in the excavations of the Trapezitsa fortress.

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