An international petition for saving RATIARIA

Please, Follow the link and support the fight to protect COLONIA ULPIA TRAIANA RATIARIA. Many thanks! http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/ratiaria/index.html

Follow the money.

Nice of this Western production to never consider that blame lies with the illegal buyers. If there was no market for this stuff, they would not waste their time digging for it. Focusing on the dirt poor diggers completely misses the source of the problem. Otherwise this is classic of every problem I've seen in Bulgaria: the locals blame the authorities, the authorities blame the locals, and as the blame game goes on no progress is made.

Ethics

The blame cannot rest entirely on diggers or the authories of the originating country. Looting will always happen while there is a market for the goods in affluent collecting countries and larger overseas museums. The strategy of organisations such as UNESCO and ICOM in preventing illicit trade has been to try to work from the top down - ie, with the larger museums and private collectors. Nowadays there are stronger industry 'code of ethics' for example in accepting works not 'provenanced'.

What a pitty!

Other countries with a fraction of the Bulgarian historical heritage, protect every little piece of antique like a treasure, which it is! I hope the new government could do something about it before it's too late. I surely understand the economic situation is partly to blame, but can't the EU help in any way?

Bulgaria...will rise again

Against the odds, the bureaucrats, the Mob and corruption! It's one strong nation with great people, unfortunately left on their own for decades. That's the net result- that's what the movie is actually all about- in all aspects of socio- economic life. But the times are changing. Fast!

A missed opportunity

As a British freelance journalist who lived and worked in Bulgaria for two years and personally witnessed the ease with which people could just walk in to these historical sites and load up a horse and cart with whatever they felt like taking, I'm surprised the report didn't feature the few success stories of Bulgarian archeology, such as the beautifully preserved Roman remains in Plovdiv. There is also quite an amazing site just north of the ancient capital of Veliko Tarnovo,

Nice film

Congratulations Dave! Good job! Finally I watched it as final production. Greetings from Niki - the driver :)

Kosovo

Just over the border in Kosovo, the Albanian mafia, comprised of the stooges who run the country (like Hshim Thaci a war criminal) destroyed up to 250 churches & ancient monuments built over a thousand year period, after the 1999 Kosovo conflict ended & under the supervision of UNMIK soldiers. Most of these world heritage sites, which were unique in the world were lost forever because of a systematic erasing of a Serbian culture and history in Kosovo. Maybe you can do a report on that?