Ancient City of Nessebar

Nessebar is an ancient town and one of the principal resorts on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, situated in Burgas Province. It is the administrative centre of Nessebar Municipality. Often called the "Pearl of the Black Sea", Nessebar is a rich museum town shaped by more than three millennia of constantly changing history. The town has two parts connected by a narrow, artificially constructed causeway, with the ancient settlement on the peninsula, formerly an island, and the more modern part, including hotels and later development, on the mainland. The old town preserves evidence of occupation by different civilisations throughout its history.

Nessebar was called Mesembria in Greek antiquity, and this old name probably derives from the Thracian Mlesambria. The town has a long history and has passed through various stages of urbanisation, as archaeological research shows.

From a Thracian settlement called Mesemvria, the town became a Greek colony in the sixth century BC. Remains of the Hellenistic period include an acropolis, a temple of Apollo and an agora. In the fifth century the town was one of the most important fortresses of the Eastern Roman Empire. During the Middle Ages it repeatedly changed hands because of wars between the Byzantines and Bulgarians.

The town fell under Ottoman rule in 1453, although it had been restored to Byzantium under the Treaty of Gallipoli in 1403.

In the nineteenth century the town developed as part of the Bulgarian coast and underwent considerable construction.

Following the Liberation in 1879, Nessebar became part of the autonomous Ottoman province of Eastern Rumelia and subsequently united with the Principality of Bulgaria in 1885.

In the early twentieth century the town developed into a major Bulgarian resort, and in 1983 UNESCO inscribed Nessebar's old town on the World Cultural Heritage List.

Nessebar thus remains a town with a significant cultural and historical heritage, attracting tourists from around the world.