Sensational archeological finding near the village of Vassil Levski, Karlovo region, central Bulgaria is expected to attract thousands of tourists. "The oldest Thracian city with a large royal residence dating back to over 2500 ago was discovered," said archeologist Kostadin Kissiov. He is the leader of the excavation works with the Museum of Archeology in Bulgaria's second largest city of Plovdiv. We started a year ago but it is now that our efforts were rewarded with a finding that has no match, Kissiov thinks. He dates the site to the 5th century BC. It spreads on the vast for its time area of 2.5 ha. This is the oldest Thracian settlement ever found. The other similar town is Sevtopolis that is now on the bottom of Koprinka dam, at five kilometers from the town of Kazanlak, central Bulgaria. The royal residence is of monumental size and is tile-roofed like no other of the Thracian buildings discovered so far. Fine Thracian and Greek pottery has been found that evidences for the ruler's contacts. The whole residence is still to be unearthed that will probably show who the ruler was. "Unfortunately only a small part of the ancient settlement will be unearthed because it lies in private property," Kissiov explains. Besides there is no money for developing the site. Funds are raised only through private sponsors despite the long-submitted conservation project in the Culture Ministry.