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On a hillside immediately north of the ethnographic complex, Tyulbeto Park is the site of two renowned funerary monuments. A stairway beyond the park gates ascends to the skeletal remains of the Turbe of Lala Shahin Pasha , conqueror of much of Bulgaria and first Ottoman governor of Rumelia. He fell in battle here, and it's thought that his entrails were interred on the spot before the rest of him was carried back to Bursa (probably embalmed in honey) to be buried in a much finer turbe closer to home. Immediately behind the turbe is a protective structure built over the first of the Thracian tombs to be excavated, a late fourth- or early third-century BC burial chamber unearthed by chance in 1944 during the construction of an air-raid post, and now a listed UNESCO monument. Its frescos are so delicate that only scholars with authorization from the Ministry of Culture may enter (and only then with a good reason), but the replica (April-Oct daily 9am-5pm, for Nov-March hours, enquire at the Iskra Museum; US$1), built 50m east along the path, is an atmospheric enough re-creation. Once inside, the domed burial chamber is approached through a low-roofed, narrow antechamber decorated by two bands of murals - one ornamented with plant and architectural motifs, the other displaying battle scenes. The floor and walls are stained a deep red, while in the cupola are the paintings for which the tomb is famed. They depict a procession of horses and servants approaching the chieftain for whom the tomb was built, who sits behind a low table laden with food. His wife, face downcast in mourning, reposes on an elaborate throne beside him, and the couple touch hands in a tender gesture of farewell. A bowl of pomegranates - a fruit associated with immortality - is offered to the deceased by a female figure to the right, who has been linked with both the Great Mother Goddess common to Thracian tribes, and the queen of the Underworld in the Greek pantheon, Persephone. Racing chariots wheel around the apex of the dome, a possible reference to the games that often accompanied a Thracian funeral. With its graceful composition and naturalistic details, the painting is a masterpiece of Hellenistic art, although opinions differ as to whether the frescos are the work of an itinerant Greek master or an inspired local.
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