Мадарский всадник: средневековый рельеф в Болгарии

Medieval rock cut relief in Bulgaria

The Madara Rider or Madara Horseman (, Madarski konnik) is a large early medieval rock relief carved on the Madara Plateau east of Shumen in northeastern Bulgaria, near the village of Madara. The monument is dated to the very late 7th or more often the very early 8th century, during the reign of the Bulgar Khan Tervel. In 1979, the monument was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The relief sculpture depicts a majestic horseman, approximately above ground level, carved into an almost vertical cliff. The sculpture is almost life size. The horseman, facing right, is thrusting a spear into a lion lying at his horse's feet, and on the left a dog is running after the horseman. The carving of the horseman's halo and garments, as well as the bird in front of the horseman's face, are barely recognizable due to centuries of erosion and the generally poor condition of the monument. The relief is similar to the carbon images found in Saltovo, Soulek, Pliska and Veliki Preslav.

The meaning and symbolism of the sculpture is uncertain, as well as its actual masonry tradition and cultural source. The relief probably incorporates elements of both autochthonous Thracian and the newly arrived Bulgars' particular cults. The monumental size and iconography, and many of the specific details (stirrup, halo, skull cup, bird, etc.) are generally part of Bulgar tradition, while the rightward direction and the lion are more typical of Thracian tradition. Some early researchers have considered it an example of the Thracian horseman – a recurring motif of a deity in the form of a horseman in the Paleo Balkanic mythology. The motif typically features a caped horseman astride a steed, with a spear poised in his right hand. He is often depicted as slaying a beast with a spear, although this feature is sometime absent. Initially considered (and later abandoned) by Konstantin Josef Jireček and Karel Škorpil, this assumption was gradually rejected because of differences in the iconographic details, and the relation with the animals (there's no dog

In 1924–1935, beneath the relief (some 250 m north) were found the remnants of a complex believed to have served as a pagan shrine (three aisled church) and a rectangular building, probably the ruler's private dwelling, where the ruler did sacral rituals related to Tangra. At the site was also found a damaged inscription by Khan Omurtag which mentions the deity Tangra. The complex is commonly dated to the second quarter of the ninth century, as the 1970s excavations dated the pottery between the 8th and the 10th centuries. Some argue that the earliest buildings were founded after the conversion to Christianity. Thus the pagan temple (i. e. church) and the building would have been built on an early Byzantine basilica. To the west of the building was found evidence of a Christian burial, with a golden decorated belt, dated c. 900 AD. Later in the 20th century, two miles (c. 3.2 km) northeast from the relief was found another group of buildings consisting of a 5th–6th century basilica with inner rectangular structure, which some have interpreted as the pagan temple (though without clear evidence).

The Madara Rider is depicted on the obverse of smaller Bulgarian coins (1 to 50 stotinki) issued in 1999 and 2000. A June 29, 2008, official survey on the design of Bulgaria's future euro coins was won by the Madara Horseman with 25.44 percent of the votes. Madara Peak on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after the historic site of Madara.