PETRICH: An exceptional white marble statue from Roman times was recovered from the sewer ruins of an ancient city in south-western Bulgaria on Friday.

The 2.1-metre (6 foot 10 inch) tall statue, likely dating from the second century AD, is missing an arm but has a perfectly preserved head, a rarity for Roman statues and a unique find for Bulgaria, archaeological excavations chief Lyudmil Vagalinski said.

`Such Roman copies of ancient Greek models can be seen in Athens and northern Greece, as well as in the Louvre museum, but they are rare,` he said, also noting its `very high quality` as a work of art.

Archaeologists stumbled upon the unexpected find last week in the ancient Roman town of Heraclea Sintica while digging in the Cloaca Maxima, the city`s tunnel-shaped urban sewage canal.

They first came upon a foot before the whole statue -lying on its left side facing the wall_ emerged little by little as they kept digging.

The sculpture, which archaeologists think depicts a king with a slender profile and divine traits, was spared from strong earthquakes in the fourth century AD and from floods by a covering of earth.

`This was the period when Christianity was forcing its way into the Roman Empire. The statue, a symbol of pagan times, was therefore carefully hidden, Vagalinski explained.

The statue`s height `was intended to demonstrate the superiority of God over mankind`, he added.

A week af ter the surprising discovery, archaeologists proceeded with the statue`s meticulous excavation.

Its most fragile parts the neck and the ankles were covered in protective foam to prevent them breaking when the one-tonne figure was lifted upright from the ground.

It was placed in a wooden box for transportation to the museum in the nearby town of Petrich, where experts will study and restore it before putting it on display for the public.-AFP