Tsarevets

For more than 200 years Tarnovo, one of the ancient Bulgarian cities was the center of the pollitical, cultural and economical life of medieval Bulgaria. The Capital was built up on the two fortified hills – Tsarevets and Trapezitsa. The population of the city made it one of the biggest in the european south-east and gave it the glory of the “third Rome and second Constantinople”.

The main castle is on Tsarevets. The first village on this historical hill is from about 4200 A.D. and continued growing during the coming ages, until it was destructed in VII-th century. In the IX-th century the village was built up once again and started growing rapidly. In the early XII-th century there was a stronghold already built, which was protecting boyars’ homes and a few christian churches.

In 1185 there was an uprising, led by Asen and Peter, two bulgarian boyars, against the Byzanthian rulers of these lands and the year after, Tarnovo was made the capital city of the restored Bulgarian country.

On the hill of Tsarevets the king’s palace and the so called Patriarshia (the biggest cathedral and home of the bulgarian church) were the two most important institutions in the country. Tsarevets was protected by a two-kilometer bulwark, which, combined with the natural surrounding of the hill from the river of Yantra made the stronghold almost unconquerable. The whole stronghold is girdled by thick walls (reaching up to 3,6 m) and was served by three gates. The main gate was at the hill’s westernmost part, on a narrow rock massif, and featured a draw-bridge. The second gate is 18 m away from the first one and the third one, which existed until 1889, is 45 m further.

The fortified medieval city on Tsarevets was densely build up. Archeological researches discovered more than 370 houses and economically-oriented buildings, 22 churches (4 of them from the early-byzanthian age) and 4 monasteries. There used to be small districts, and each of them had its own church.

The central street, which goes along the north-west side of the bulwark leads to the Lobna skala – the place, where, as legend says, the death sentences against traitors were executed.

The king’s palace is located on the hill’s central and plain part, which was a closed complex encircled by a fortified wall, 2 towers and 2 entrances, a main one from the north and one from the south. It featured a throne room, a palace church and a royal residential part and encompassed 4872 m².

Baldwin’s Tower , a modern reconstruction of a medieval tower modelled after the tower in Cherven and built in 1930, is located in the southeastern part of Tsarevets. It is located at the place of the original medieval tower where Latin Emperor Baldwin I of Constantinople found his death as a prisoner of Kaloyan of Bulgaria.

The Sound and Light (Zvuk i svetlina) audiovisual show is an attraction carried out in the evening that uses three lasers, various lights, dramatic music and church bells to tell the story of the fall of Tarnovo to the Ottomans, as well as other key moments of the history of Bulgaria. The large-scale show has been organized at Tsarevets since 1985, when the 800-year anniversary of the Uprising of Asen and Peter was celebrated. It was designed and planned by a Bulgarian-Czechoslovak team led by Valo Radev and Jaromir Hnik.