There will be no construction on the Ancient Amphitheater of Serdica in Sofia, assured the Minister of Culture Marian Bachev. The reason for this turned out to be a civil petition for the preservation and restoration of the Amphitheater after part of it fell into the list of over 4,000 state properties with no longer needed and the concern of citizens of the capital that construction will begin on the centuries-old remains.
The Ministry of Culture stated that they are actively working for the preservation and development of the archaeological reserve "Serdica-Sredets" and add, BNT pointed out.
Todor Chobanov - Deputy Minister of Culture: "About a month ago, Minister Bachev sent a letter to the Ministry of Energy, in which we officially requested that the BEH property be handed over to us for the purpose of exhibiting it in the spirit of the amphitheater. We are also ready to open an expropriation procedure from a neighboring private property, which would also help us present the amphitheater in a better way. No construction is planned on the Roman amphitheater."
In response to a query from "Around the World and at Home" to the Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) about what will happen to the property that was included in the list of properties with deferred necessity, they replied that they had taken all necessary actions to preserve the archaeological finds. And they add that the Minister of Energy Zhecho Stankov and the Minister of Culture Marian Bachev have discussed the possibility of transferring ownership of the property to the Ministry of Culture.
The Sofia Municipality also has a request to acquire the Amphitheater. At the last meeting of the Municipal Council, after a proposal for this to happen, the item was accepted.
Boyko Dimitrov - municipal councilor from the PP-DB: "Mayor Vasil Terziev has sent an official letter to the Prime Minister, to the relevant ministers, to the regional governor, in which we demand that this land be transferred to us free of charge."
However, the Ministry of Culture stated that if the municipality wants to help the state, it must prepare a new Detailed Development Plan, which can allow for easier expropriation of the properties.
Todor Chobanov - Deputy Minister of Culture: "Several sites on the territory of the reserve have been transferred to the Municipality, there is such a practice, but in order to receive new properties for management, it must prove that it has the capacity to carry out such an activity, unfortunately, the condition of the sites that are currently managed by the municipality is extremely unsatisfactory."
The uncertainty surrounding whether the Roman amphitheater will be built on top of it prompted Margarita Stefanova to petition for its preservation and restoration. To date, the petition has been signed by nearly 10,000 people.
Martina Stefanova – journalist and organizer of the petition: "We want this amphitheater to be exhibited, the past must be known, because without it there is no future, exhibited for the residents, for the guests of the city and tourists this is something unique, this is truly an amphitheater close to the size of the Colosseum in Rome."
And the Deputy Minister of Culture assured that the restoration of the cultural value is coming.
Todor Chobanov - Deputy Minister of Culture: "We will immediately begin actions to strengthen the terrain, restoration and we will do everything to preserve our rich cultural wealth."
The Serdika amphitheater was discovered during the construction of a hotel in 2004. Excavations were also made at two more places where it was supposed to be built - on "Budapest" Street and "Dondukov" Blvd. We also asked the hotel, which houses part of the centuries-old discovery, for comment on the subject. They replied that it is currently closed, and the remains in the hotel can be viewed with prior request.