On June 20, 2024 (Thursday) at 11:00 AM, the exhibition "The Magic of Dolnoslav" will be opened at the Regional Archaeological Museum - Plovdiv.

The exhibition showcases finds from the Lopkite settlement mound near the present-day village of Dolnoslav, Plovdiv region. These artifacts date from the early Neolithic to the early Bronze Age (late 7th to early 3rd millennium BCE). The majority of the exhibits are from the late Stone-Copper Age, also known as the Chalcolithic or Eneolithic period (5th - mid-4th millennium BCE). Many of these items are being presented to the public for the first time, while others are given new interpretations.

The exhibition highlights traces of archaeometallurgical activities, ceramic and textile production, and a large quantity of deer antler finds, including unfinished pieces, suggesting the existence of a workshop for processing raw materials stored in pits.

The permanent exhibition of the museum features the oldest wall paintings in the region from a late Chalcolithic temple in Dolnoslav, represented in the temporary exhibition by a photograph. "The Eyes of the Goddess" are depicted on miniature ceramic stool models and some "cult" tables symbolizing the Mother Goddess. Human (anthropomorphic) and animal (zoomorphic) figurines, objects of magic and cult, ignite the imagination of modern people. "The Eyes of the Goddess" and her symbol are prominently displayed on the millennia-old creations of ancient craftsmen.

Through diverse finds from a prehistoric site, the exhibition represents the cycle of nature and human life: birth – flourishing – decline – death – rebirth – magic, governed by nature, whose symbol in the minds of ancient people is the Mother Goddess. Under her watchful eyes, the daily life of the settlement’s inhabitants unfolds. She is the weaver of their fates. The birth of light and a new day is magical, as is the birth of new life. The transformation of rock into molten metal, from which various tools, ornaments, and weapons are then cast, is a form of magic. Magical and symbolic are the signs carved on vessels, loom weights, ceramic anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines, or painted on the walls of temples.

This project has been implemented with the financial support of the Ministry of culture.