After architect Zheko Tilev presented a restoration plan for the ancient Thracian city of Seuthopolis in 2007, the next step of the campaign for preservation and exposure of the archaeological site is to attract both Bulgarian and foreign investors to secure the 150 million euro needed to carry it out, Stroitelstvo Gradut weekly reported on October 6.

The initiative comes from association Treasure the Bulgarian Heritage, headed by Tilev, and revolves around the idea to "uncover" the city which lies 20m below the water level of  Koprinka reservoir near the city of Kazanluk in central Bulgaria.

Seuthopolis was founded in 323 BCE by the Thracian king Seuthes III, who is believed to have lived from around 330 BCE to around 300 BCE. It is known that the city was the capital of the Odrysian kingdom and vanished in 270 BCE. Its ruins suggest that the place had been an important political and economic centre, as well as containing evidence of the Thracian culture and traditions.

The city was discovered and researched between 1948 and 1954, when the reservoir's building began. At that time, an extensive photographic and archaeological evidence was gathered, but the significance of the discovery was appreciated when the reservoir's construction was under way and impossible to stop. The site is close to 0.6ha or about 2.4 per cent of the total size of the reservoir.

Being a number of decades under water, the city is still well preserved, archaeologist Maria Chichikova has said, and it is a great example of modern civil engineering and planning.

According to Tilev, the site could welcome more than half a million foreign tourists a year. The project has generated interest from various foreign cultural institutes as well as from Greece through a programme for three-sided collaboration.

Within the reservoir, the ancient city will be encircled by an internal dam, resembling a well at the bottom of which, Seuthopolis will be displayed. Approached from the shore, the site will remain invisible as only the dam would stick out. A special platform raised 20m high would allow visitors to admire the city in its entirety.