Pyramids of Stob
The pyramids of Stob ( Bulgarian Стобски пирамиди / Stobski piramidi) are a rock formation in the western part of the Rila Mountains , two kilometers east of the Bulgarian village of Stob , 20 km west of the Rila monastery . This natural phenomenon is a stone formation made of bizarre, heavily weathered sandstone pyramids. The pyramids of Stob are similar to the sandstone pyramids of Melnik and are also earth pyramids .
The sculptures were created in the course of centuries of erosion and weathering of the soil from a mixture of sand and clay mixed with rubble. While some pyramids disappear, new ones appear elsewhere. The pyramids of Stob arose from a layer of rubble from the Ice Age up to 40 m thick, which is held together by clay and coarse-grained sand. The material was brought here from melting ice age glaciers that covered the higher parts of the Rila Mountains.
From the village of Stob, which lies in a basin, a steep mountain ridge rises to the east ( Bulgarian Кулски рид / Kulski rid), along which a hiking trail runs. The ridge drops steeply on both sides. On the southern side, on the right side on the ascent, the mountain slope is completely weathered and criss-crossed by deep furrows. A valley extends both to the left and to the right. The northern valley (left on the ascent) is the Grachkovets valley ( Bulgarian Гръчковец ) and the southern valley is the Bukovets valley ( Bulgarian Буковец ). The valley after that on the northern side is the Rila Valley, through which the Rila River flows and which leads east to the Rila Monastery high in the Rila Mountains. The path to the pyramids of Stob runs on a ridge that is only a meter wide in places. Although the path is partially supported on the side with woven wicker fences, it changes its position relatively quickly due to the rapidly progressing weathering. The ascent from the village takes about 40 minutes on foot. From above there is a panoramic view far to the west to the Osogowo Mountains ( Bulgarian Осоговската планина ) in Macedonia , to the east to the peaks of the Rila Mountains and to the north and south down to the neighboring valleys.
The pyramids have an average height of 7 to 10 m, in some cases they are up to 12 m high. They have a variety of shapes, but mostly they are pyramidal or conical and often with a stone block on their tip (1.20 to 0.80 m in diameter), so that they resemble mushrooms.
The pyramids on the northern slope of the ridge are better carved out because they are much smaller. Most of the paramids are on the southern slope. Here the pyramids are bigger and more dense. The soil has a yellowish-brown color that varies in places between rust-brown, reddish and dark yellow. The pyramids look particularly beautiful at sunset and in the moonlight.
The picturesque sandstone pyramids of Stob cover an area of 7.4 hectares and were declared a protected natural object of Bulgaria in 1964. The entire area is located in the Rila Monastery Nature Park .
Up until an earthquake in 1904 there was a stone lookout tower on the pyramids of Stob, from which the area is also called Kulata ( Bulgarian Кулата / the tower).
Web links
Coordinates: 42 ° 5 ′ 32.3 " N , 23 ° 7 ′ 16" E