Madara National Historical and Archaeological Reserve is located 17 km northeast of the town of Shumen, 2 km from the village of Madara and 75 km from Varna. People first settled there in the Neolithic Age (New Stone Age). Over the centuries, they built here cave sanctuaries, palaces and mansions, fortresses, temples, hermitage cells, and monastery complexes, places of retreat and communal feasts. This is evidenced by the traces of the material and spiritual culture of many ethnic communities - primitive people, Thracians, Romans, Byzantines, Slavs, Bulgarians, Turks, etc. Dozens of monuments and artefacts from all eras can be seen here today. The Horseman of Madara is a medieval bas-relief carved on a cliff near the present-day village of Madara in northeastern Bulgaria. It is the only rock relief in Europe from the early medieval period and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The horseman was carved in the 7th century AD on a cliff at a height of 23m. Dimensions of the bas-relief: 2.6m in height and 3.1m wide at the base. It depicts a man on a horseback, a lion, a dog, an eagle, and Greek inscriptions.