Ratiaria WHV project Evaluation Report

Download the Evaluation Report for WHV Ratiaria project

Impressions of Colonia Ulpia Traiana Ratiaria

Kathryn Libby

University of Sheffield, United States

If you did not know the archaeological “tourist” site of Ratiaria was there you would drive past it without any notice. The sign explaining the site is a 5 minute walk down a dirt road and it entirely unseeable from the road. The sign has even more faults; while it explains that it is open to tourists it fails to explain the significance or any history or archaeological information from the site. Any tourist who went here would need have known about the site already and have an extensive knowledge of the Roman Empire in Bulgaria; which is highly unlikely. The site is largely looked after by one volunteer from the village who lives near by. Upon our arrival he told us that a group of tourists came by and he acted as their guide in an attempt to explain the site. Unfortunately, the problems with Ratiaria do not end there. The site is in a worrying condition. The plant life has taken over and the building are degrading at an extreme rate due to the lack of preservation. The overgrown and disorganised state make it difficult for tourists to navigate the site and education themselves about the fascinating archaeology. Unlike other sites such as these are filled with information signs explains the purpose of building and drawing showing what they would have looked the when complete; Ratiaria has none.

ll of these problems arise, not from a lack of funding, many different agencies and organisations have given money to rescue the “at risk site” of Ratiaria yet the money has not gone into the project. A continued corruption in the area has led to many sites to fall into disrepair. Government officials use the money how they see fit and report back to groups such as UNESCO that the site will now improve and things are going well. Though a single trip to the site can see that these government officials have not used the money as they were suppose to. This is further supported by; first, the mayor of Dimovo actively avoiding both the group of volunteers and Krassimira, and the continued surveillance of the volunteers by police as we looked at the sites.

The greatest shame is the pride the people both in Vidin and in Archar yet alone they are unable to fight the systemic corruption occurring in both places. Locals show great interest in saving these heritage sites but are constantly blocked by red tape and government bureaucracy preventing them from helping site and places they truly care about. When you discuss the state of such places with local individuals you can feel their disappointment when they explain how they’ve tried again and again to fix the situation but have yet to succeed in saving their heritage.

Austin John Williams

Liverpool John Moores University

United Kingdom

Ratiaria is a sight of paramount culural, economic and most importantly historic importance to the Vidin region and Bulgaria as a whole. Unfortunately, my experience did not demonstrate respect from local government with regards to the value of this site.

Upon arrival to Achar, it quickly became apparent that the local mayor had chosen to skip his scheduled meeting with us. This meant that we were unable to obtain necessary permission to begin excavation, thus immediately halting all progress in our mission to save Ratiaria.

We proceeded to the site nonetheless and discovered that a sign had been added, detailing the EU project to conserve Ratiaria and turn it into a touristic site. Unfortunately, nothing beyond the sign had been done. The site was poorly maintained and remains of ancient Roman buildings were quickly degrading. There was no tourist infrastructure, nowhere to purchase tickets, no pathways or signage/leaflets detailing the site's history. Despite a trailer housing guards (also sourced by locals without the EU funds) being present, looters had turned massive areas of the site upside-down as is evident in the massive mounds surrounding the area. This has brought precious artefacts such as pottery and metals to the ground's surface to degrade, whilst more valuable treasures have been stolen and lost.

After speaking to the local guards, we were told that the mayor had said we were not allowed on the site. This is conspicuous behaviour, as the EU grant of €610,000 has clearly not been invested and anyone that may challenge this, such as our group, is turned away. Corruption and theft are clearly present.

To summarise, Ratiaria has been left to turn to dust and its treasures have been robbed or damaged beyond repair. All potential benefits to the local economy and tax receipts of local and national governments have been disregarded for the sake of individual gain and corruption. The locals truly suffer as a consequence.

Ilyan Yordanov

Vidin, Bulgaria

My name is Iliyan, I am sixteen and I am from Bulgaria. I am writing to you in regard to a recent project which occurred here in northwestern Bulgaria. The main purpose of my report will be: writing down all my outlooks about the project and also explaining them, explaining why this project was useful to me and the other members of the project and finally pointing out my recommendations.

Initially when I first heard that I will take part in a project of Unesco I was really surprised, because this was a great opportunity to me to befriend new people, meet with new culture, also favorable opportunity to develop my English and last but not at least to get in touch with the history of the region which lies under our feet. As I first met with the group I was a little bit worried, because in our schools there are a few international projects which unfortunately are not accessible for everyone, even for those who can’t speak English as fluently as me and some of my friends. After a few hours me and both the others, started talking to each other freely without any sight of language barriers.

On the next day we had to go to visit the place of interest called “Ratiaria” which is famous for being a roman town. This site is nearby a village called Archar and it is just like in the middle of nowhere. My first deprecation was that the information written on the signboard was only in Bulgarian. My notions about this place from what my friends told me about this place turned out to be totally different. All the place was covered in bushes and it was almost not accessible at some parts which leads me to the feeling that no one takes care of hat place. The most interesting part was that we were unable to make little sort of excavation due to the local municipality which was rather unpleasant to me and the others. After all we all left with the memory of the beautiful scenery all around form the hill and the view of the whole place. The following day we decided to visit two other destinations which are tourist attraction. They are called: “The Belogradchik cliffs” and “The Magura cave”. At the first sight we all left without words when we saw the astonishing, magnificent and incredible view from the top of the cliffs. We took some significant photos from up there, but that is nothing in comparison to what our eyes memorized from that moment. At our next destination again we all left without words owing to the fully preserved primal drawings depicted on the walls. All I can say about that day is that I will remember it forever.

My personal conviction on the project is that it is really useful to me, but not only to me, and to the others, because we both learned something new from each other, learned something about the history of the places we visited, gained experience during that period, developed our communicative skills and created new friendships. Summarizing all what happened this week I will state that it was enjoyable and pleasant experience for me.

The onliest recommendation I will give you is having more projects conducted in our region in order to provide prosperity and development to it. It provide the local people the opportunity to communicate with other foreign people from other countries which will develop their skills.

Video

In the last few years Bulgarian government completely lost control on spending of EU Funds and the corruption in fact has destroyed Bulgarian heritage and historical legacy!

The NGOs have been fighting for years to stop fake rebuilds of historical places (representative for Bulgarian history), which violate not only Bulgarian but also European and international standards.

This report presents the most shocking stage of this process where "fake" is the project itself! One and half million BGN were spend ... given by the Bulgarian taxpayer! Money for nothing...

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