site.btaHeraclea Sintica Tops 60,000 Visitors, Next Restoration Phase Set for 2026

Over 60,000 tourists have visited the ancient city of Heraclea Sintica in the past year, project leader Katya Stoyanova said on Saturday. More than 12,000 arrived in the first five months of 2025 alone.

Stoyanova said the renovated site now lets visitors explore, learn about and enjoy the settlement, adding that interest has almost quadrupled, with travellers arriving from Singapore, China, Taiwan, South Africa, Brazil, Russia, Iceland, Cyprus, Vietnam, France and elsewhere.

A new phase of large-scale restoration is planned: preparatory work will begin later this year, with the main works scheduled for 2026. Heraclea Sintica reopened on May 16, 2024, in a ribbon-cutting ceremony led by Petrich Mayor Dimitar Bratchkov, municipal council chair Svetla Danailova and the contractor’s managing director.

The site was upgraded under the Restoration, Conservation, Preservation, Popularisation and Development of the Archaeological Site ‘Ancient City of Heraclea Sintica’ and Adjacent Necropola project, funded through Priority Axis 6 of Operational Programme Regions in Growth 2014-2020. Stage one delivered tourist infrastructure, parking and a visitors’ centre at a cost of BGN 10.2 million, VAT included.

In 2023 archaeologists uncovered an inscription bearing the city’s name, ending scholarly debate over its identification. Founded in the late fourth century BC, Heraclea Sintica combines the name of the hero Heracles with that of the Thracian Sintians who settled the Struma valley. Excavations have revealed an agora with colonnades, marble-paved streets laid on the slope in the Hellenistic grid, basilicas used for assemblies and justice, Roman baths with hypocaust heating, and evidence of local coinage depicting Heracles, civic deities and Roman emperors.

As part of Museum Night, the Petrich History Museum will provide free transport for a night-time walk through the ruins, led by excavation director Lyudmil Vagalinski.