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The area northwest of Kazanlak was a sacred place for the inhabitants of Seuthopolis, and they left a string of necropoli on either side of the road that runs along the Shipka Pass. Not all the 1500 burial mounds ( mogili ) in the vicinity contain the stone-built tombs of the wealthy, and it's not known which classes of Thracian society actually qualified for one: kings, priests, or noble families in general. It is clear, however, that the prevalence of tombs reflects the growing wealth and self-confidence of Odrysian society from the fifth century BC onwards. After years of intense archeological activity, a group of four tombs has now been opened to the public. However the Ministry of Culture looks set to limit further excavations, as the number of open tombs is outstripping the ability of the authorities to look after them adequately. Visits to the tombs must be arranged through the Iskra Museum (tel 0431/26055 or 23741), at least three days in advance. The cost of around US$2.50 per person per tomb (most people visit three or four to make the trip worthwhile) includes an English-speaking guide, but you'll need to pay extra for a driver if you don't have your own transport. The nearest of the tombs to Kazanlak on the south side of Shipka village is the fifth-century-BC Mogila Ostrusha , which contains a remarkable granite burial chamber in the form of a miniature Greek temple - indeed it may have served as a place of worship before being used as a tomb. The ceiling of the chamber was painted with a grid of small scenes, of which only one survives in recognizable form - a faded and tiny portrait of a red-haired girl, unique for the period. The remaining tombs date from at least a century later than Ostrusha and, like the Kazanlak tomb, are built in the form of a domed burial chamber approached through a narrow, corridor-like antechamber. Two are in the Shushmanets complex, an ensemble of six mounds on the eastern fringes of Shipka village. The burial chamber of the Mogila Shushmanets itself is characterized by a single doric column which supports the ceiling, while the nearby Mogila Helvetsia , named in honour of Switzerland, whose government paid for its excavation, boasts an elegant pointed-arch entrance. Finally, out beyond Shipka village on the Gabrovo road, the Mogila Arsenalka (so named because of its proximity to the Arsenal Kalashnikov factory) features an outer facade fashioned from blocks of porphyry granite quarried on the south side of the valley. Inside, the chamber is simple and undecorated but exudes harmony, with a stone bed for the deceased and a circular hearth on the floor for lighting sacrificial fires.
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