10TH CENTURY GOLDEN HEART JEWEL WORN BY BULGARIAN EMPRESS DISCOVERED IN MEDIEVAL CAPITAL VELIKI PRESLAV

This newly discovered over 1,000-year-old golden heart jewel with glass enamel is believed to have belonged to a 10th century Bulgarian Tsaritsa (Empress). Photo: Shum

A remarkable golden jewel in the shape of a heart decorated with a five-color enamel, which may have belonged to the wife of Tsar Petar I (r. 927-969), has been discovered by archaeologists during excavations in Veliki Preslav (“Great Preslav"), Shumen District, in today’s Northeast Bulgaria, which was the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire (632/680 – 1018) from 893 until 970.

The heart-shaped 23-karat gold jewel has been found in the ruins of what is believed to have been an imperial residence of the Tsars of the First Bulgarian Empire who ruled from Veliki Preslav.

(Between 680 and 893, the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire was the nearby city of Pliska which is especially notable for its 9th century Great Basilica, among other things.)

The golden heart is 4 cm wide and 3.5 cm tall, and dated back to the middle of the 10th century, which is precisely the time of the reign of Bulgaria’s Tsar Petar I, the son of Tsar Simeon I the Great (r. 893-927).

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