A personal role model – the mayor of Ivaylovgrad was photographed on the mosaics in the villa “Armira” yet in 2017

The mayor of Ivaylovgrad Diana Ovcharova (GERB) and the Regional Governor of Haskovo Stanislav Dachev gave a “personal role model” for violating the ban on stepping on ancient mosaics in the historical monument “Villa Armira” near Ivaylovgrad. This is shown by photos that “Pro Veritas” has. The first of them is from 2017. On it, Diana Ovcharova was photographed together with five other participants in a poetic evening, sitting on chairs placed directly on the mosaics date to the IV century.

Three other photos, but from 2018, have captured moments from the show “Pebble in the mosaic of Europe”, also played directly on the mosaics in the villa “Armira”. For a photo after the end, all participants in the show stepped on the historical monument with shoes. The Regional Governor of Haskovo Stanislav Dechev and again Diana Ovcharova were photographed together with them.

During a wedding ceremony last Sunday, guests were filmed walking on the mosaics during a ritual led by Ovcharova herself. The photos from the wedding were posted on Facebook by Dimitar Ivanov. In his profile, he said that after making a remark, the mayor of Ivaylovgrad personally told him that it was not his job to monitor the order in the museum. She then explained to the wedding guests that there was no problem walking on the mosaics, including by heeled shoes, as they were glued very tightly and also treated with special materials.

On Monday, when asked by BTV, Ovcharova proved to be on sick leave and instead her deputy Svetla Mollova gave an explanation for the unacceptable attitude towards the historical monument. According to her, stepping on the mosaics was necessary because of the mandatory distance of 1.5 m between the wedding guests in order to comply with the anti-epidemic requirements of the Ministry of Health. However, the four photos from 2017 and 2018 that we publish here completely refute this justification.

Yet on Tuesday, the Ministry of Culture launched an inspection to determine whether the monument of national importance has suffered damages. “This is definitely a violation of the Cultural Heritage Act and the Municipality of Ivaylovgrad that manages the site, must protect it from demolition, which definitely does not include walking on the mosaic,” said Slavi Slavov – regional inspector from the General Directorate of the “Inspectorate for Cultural Preservation heritage” with the Ministry of Culture.

Villa Armira is one of the four Roman villas in the world that have been preserved to this day. It was discovered in 1964 during the construction of the Ivaylovgrad dam. Because of its exquisite marble decoration, but also because of its mosaics, it is called “The Jewel of the Eastern Rhodopes”. Some time ago, the monument was renovated with nearly BGN 2 million, provided by European Union funds. In February this year, the Municipality of Ivaylovgrad signed a contract for the implementation of the project “Sustainable development of an archaeological site – ancient “Villa Armira” near Ivaylovgrad” under the procedure “Development of tourist attractions”. The funding amounts to nearly BGN 8 million, which will be provided by the Operational Program “Growing Regions”.