Pobitite Kamani

The Pobiti Kamani (Rammed Stones) area is situated 18 km west of the city of Varna. The stones were formed by erosion about 50 million years ago. Dead cockles, sea species, and fossils are constituents of these stones, and of the sands around. Some of the stones have zoomorphic and anthropomorphic origins. Many of them are claimed to have been a place of worship or used for sacred rituals during Thracian, Slavonic, and ancient Bulgarian times.

This is one of the most incredible natural phenomena in Bulgaria. The natural stone pillars - some reaching 6 metres high, some up to 12 metres across at their base are known as “the petrified forest”. Some columns are animal-like, others remind visitors of frozen fountains or waterfalls. Several rows of columns create the impression that each is made up of two cones balancing on their sharp edges. The most famous theory is that the “stone forest” near Varna was formed some 50 million years ago. At that time it was a part of the sea bottom. When the sea-level was gradually reduced the inorganic sediments eroded, and therefore attaining the extraordinary forms one can see today.
Most of the stones are built of limy sandstones, containing many fossils. The majority have a smaller or bigger cavity, some are horizontally cracked. The cylindrical stone columns form several groups somewhere between the town of Beloslav and the villages Strashimirovo, Slunchevo, Banovo and Povelyanovo which cover a total area of 50 km2.
At first one may be deluded that this phenomenon is a ruined temple but scientists have discovered that it is a geological formation of stalagmites created some fifty million years ago.