Madara Rider

马达腊骑士崖雕

🇮🇹 Bulgaria📅 1979 Inscribed

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The Madara Rider, representing the figure of a knight triumphing over a lion, is carved into a 100-m-high cliff near the village of Madara in north-east Bulgaria. Madara was the principal sacred place of the First Bulgarian Empire before Bulgaria’s conversion to Christianity in the 9th century. The inscriptions beside the sculpture tell of events that occurred between AD 705 and 801.

Insight I

The Madara Rider is a rock relief from the First Bulgarian Empire, carved on a 100-meter-high cliff, depicting a triumphant rider defeating a lion.

This is an extremely rare artistic form, reflecting a fusion of Balkan Thracian horseman traditions and Turkic Bulgar beliefs, making it a unique cultural landmark in Eastern Europe.

Insight II

The inscriptions surrounding the relief document the history of Khan Tervel, Khan Kormisos, and Khan Omurtag, providing valuable historical records.