The stunning Tsar Assen Mine looks like an extraterrestrial landscape, resembling a crater from Mars or another distant planet with a blue “eye” in the center, full of water. In the past, it served for metal mining, but today it attracts visitors with its beauty and accessibility by car, with plenty of space to park in the nearby fields. Including Tsar Aen mine in a photography day trip is a perfect idea if you’re in the area. Although the abandoned crater of the Tsar Assen Mine is fascinating, the area around the village of Tsar Assen also boasts beautiful natural scenery. In the Panagyurishte and Pazardzhik regions, there are also many abandoned or depleted mines. In the past, this area was abundant in extracting non-ferrous metals, so there are many remaining craters from former mines. Such is the case with the one near the village of Tsar Assen, which served mainly for copper and other oxide ores.
To reach the mine, you must travel from Pazardzhik to the village of Levski. It can be challenging to navigate if you’re unfamiliar with the area, and the signs aren’t the best guide, as many of them are missing. The roads around the villages are also in poor condition. Drive with caution.
The place is strangely beautiful but not entirely safe. Locals claim that water collected at the bottom of the crater is full of heavy metals and toxic chemicals. Even if they exaggerate, there is likely some truth to their claims. During heavy rains, the mine has a “habit” of overflowing. Its “enriched” waters spill into the nearby Luda Yana river, which generally can provide drinking water to the surrounding villages.
Thanks to the mining activities, you can’t deny that the area has been shaped excitingly. A hill rises beside the crater, from which you can peer into the depths of the quarry. In the entire region, you can see bizarre landforms that don’t seem to belong to the local landscape. Instead, they resemble a foreign planet or a sand desert with strange folds. These forms, born of human activity, are not the typical relief of Bulgaria.
