Bulgaria 7

Culture and history tourism in Bulgaria: Royal Palace Hides Tombs
Thousands of tourists flock to see spectacular show on the royal hill

Veliko Tarnovo, Tsarevets hill

Hotels Bulgaria: Book your hotel & holiday in Veliko Tarnovo Bulgaria now! Accommodation Veliko Tarnovo

Veliko Tarnovo is one of the most ancient Bulgarian towns. The picturesque situation and panoramic view of the town, its rich cultural and historical heritage wins Veliko Tarnovo the recognition as a historical, cultural and tourist center of contemporary Bulgaria.
The royal palace of Tsarevets on the hill of the same name, Veliko Tarnovo, northern Bulgaria, spreads over about 0.5 ha. In the course of 207 years the supreme political and religious power of medieval Bulgaria resided here (from 1185 to 1393, the time of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom). High stonewalls, about tow-metre thick surrounded the palace. Guard towers rose by the gates. The palace premises closed round a large inner yard. The throne room and the reception chambers stood in its western part. The cathedral, decorated with colourful mosaic and frescoes rose in the centre. Three tombs and fragments of a sarcophagus where some of the Bulgarian kings had been buried, were found in the church. The first settlement on the hill appeared in the late Chalcolithic (4200 BC). It developed throughout the Bronze Age and flourished in the Iron Age when the Thracians inhabited it. In the period from 5th to 7th AD century, Zikideva, the largest Byzantine city in the province of Lower Mizia was established. It was ruined, though, during the invasions of Avars and Slavs in the beginning of the 7th century. In the 9th century a Bulgarian settlement originated over the ruins that gradually developed and enlarged at the time of the First Bulgarian Kingdom. In the 12th century the town was fortified and the residence complex of the nobility as well as churches were erected. Tsarevets was the capital of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom, a time of great cultural and literary growth. Nowadays, thousands of tourists from all over the world, the distant USA and Japan included, come to Bulgaria especially to watch the phenomenal spectacle Light and Sound show on the royal hill.

A model of the royal palace on Tsarevets hill
Hotels Bulgaria: Book your hotel & holiday in Veliko Tarnovo Bulgaria now! Accommodation Veliko Tarnovo

Veliko Tarnovo is one of the most ancient Bulgarian towns. The picturesque situation and panoramic view of the town, its rich cultural and historical heritage wins Veliko Tarnovo the recognition as a historical, cultural and tourist center of contemporary Bulgaria.

The town was founder of the foot of the Northern Fore - Balkan Range. Historians date it back to the 4th millenium B. C.. The town of Veliko Tarnovo had inherited centuries-old Prehistoric, Thracian and Antique culture and in 1185 it became a center of the Bulgarian Uprising against Byzantine domination and the capital of the restored Bulgarian state. The medieval town of Tarnovo was rapidly expanding and developed into the strongest Bulgarian fortress during the 12-14th centuries. It become the most significant political, economic, cultural and religious centre of Bulgaria. The Tarnovo Schools of Literature and Arts were established and developed here. Remarkable architectural monuments were created; miniature and monumental painting, literature, plastic arts and crafts achieved high artistic level.

During the 15th-19th centuries period Tarnovo was a symbol of the former Bulgarian state system and a stronghold of the Bulgarian national spirit, a leading centre of the struggle for cultural independence. During the Bulgarian National Revival period in the second half of the 18th and the 19th centuries the town was an important administrative, trade and industrial centre. The rapid economic boom was set as a favourable premise for a dynamic cultural and educational process. Unique monuments of the material and spiritual culture were created.

After the Liberation from Ottoman domination in 1877 until the wars in 1912 - 1913and in 1915 - 1918 as a historical capital Tarnovo played a significant role in the political, administrative and cultural formation of independent Bulgaria. In 1879 Bulgaria was restored for the second time. Then the Constituent Assembly drafted the supreme fundamental laws of the nation - the Tarnovska Constitution in the hall of the former Turkish konak (municipality building). The 1st, The 3th, The 4th and The 5th Grand National Assemblies (in 1879, 1887, 1893 and 1911) were held in Veliko Tarnovo.

In 1990 The 7th Grand National Assembly was established in same Town Hall where the Constituent Assembly was in session in 1879. The 7th Grand National Assembly drafted the new Constitution of Bulgaria - the nations fundamental laws for modern democratic changes.

Modern Veliko Tarnovo is a town - museum rich in many cultural museums and monuments and architectural preserves. Every year the town is visited by thousands of tourists from Bulgaria and from abroad. It is a prime concern of the whole nation to study and preserve the numerous historical and architectural monuments, the rich museums and the museum stock.

Museums in Veliko Turnovo

The Old Konak, designed by Kolyo Ficheto in 1872, has seen many key historical events and now houses the Museum of the National Revival and the Constituent Assembly.

The Architectural Reserve of Tsarevets protects the mediaeval fortress walls and gates, including Baldwin Tower, the Palace and the ruins of the Church of the Blessed Saviour as well as the Trapezitsa Elevation, on the opposite bank of the river Yantra, which snakes round all structures in such a manner as to provide a natural defiance. The Trapezitsa Elevation is noted for the many churches and other buildings excavated there.

Another architectural reserve protects the ancient houses to be found in the Varosha and Bazhdarluk districts.

Among other interests in the town are the Ethnographic Museum housed in the Inn of Nikola Hadzhi which was again designed by Kolyo Ficheto and a number of churches including the St. Dimitar, the Forty Holy Martyrs and the St. Constantine and St. Helena.

Noted for its unique monumental stone houses along with churches and drinking fountains, Arbanasi, one of the most picturesque villages in the region can be found approximately 4 km north of Veliko Turnovo. With interiors and upper facades remaining characteristic of revival period architecture, House Museum of particular node include that of Konstantsaliev, the Town History Museum in Hadzhiiliev House and Nikolchokostov’s House.

Ecotourism in Bulgaria: Ecotourism around Tarnovo
Wine Tour in Arbanassi-Lyaskovets Bulgaria

Diverse tourist attractions in Veliko Tarnovo

For the third time in a row the city of Veliko Tarnovo was the venue in 2006 of a National Bourse” Cultural Tourism”, sponsored by the State Agency on Tourism. Making Bulgaria a competitive cultural tourism destination was at the heart of the bourse. Veliko Tarnovo, a one-time capital of the Second Bulgarian kingdom, presently the site of myriad surviving samples of Bulgarian heritage, historical and cultural, has to offer a huge deal in this line.

The bourse agenda featured a film festival” On the Eastern shores of Europe”, of short films promoting Bulgarian tourism. The latest attractions in Veliko Tarnovo and its environs, brand new hotels, restaurants and other entertainment spots were publicly presented too. The medieval fortress Tsarevets, the Samovod trades market with its tradesmen’s shops, the city’s historical churches and museums, housing unique exhibits, are well known to all coming to visit Veliko Tranovo. Tourists will as of this season be able to visit the Sarafkin House, fully restored to former glory to offer for public viewing the way of life and traditions of Veliko Tarnovo residents in the time of the Bulgarian national revival in the late 18th and 19th c. A Prison Museum, dated to the mid 19th c was unveiled 12 months ago to let visitors see with their own eyes the dungeon where Bulgarian National liberation fighters and rebels would be imprisoned and subjected to merciless torture. Another fascinating attraction is said to be a recently opened exhibition, entitled “ Things female” featuring traditional jewelry, fabrics and costumes from these parts. The region is also renowned for its high quality wines. Some 2000 tourists have been to the Liaskovets Wine Cellar in the environs of the city over 2005 alone. The cellar arranges, on a regular basis, tasting of selected brands of local wines, enjoying enthusiastic reception on world markets. Tourists, wishing to get a mixed fare of cultural and wild nature tourism could opt for the village of Emen, lying but a sheer few kilometers away from Veliko Tranovo and offering two brand new tourist complexes, complete with open-air swimming pools. Thrill-seekers may take on the challenge of the picturesque Emen eco-trail, running the length of a big stretch of the Negovanka river, pushing its way through the vertical walls of an eponymous canyon.

Veliko Tarnovo has been taking part in all national bourses for the last three years to promote its cultural tourism resources. We have appeared, too, at quite a few international tourist bourses in the last couple of years”, says Daniel Panov, Chief of the Municipality Tourism Agency. “ healthy promotion campaign has brought in increasing custom from abroad. Last year we welcomed over 350 000 tourists, which is 20% up on the preceding year. We believe the number of foreign tourists will rise by another 15-20% over the next few months. The prevalent number of tourists will be Americans favouring cruise trips along the Danube river, stopping over at the Port of Rousse and taking a day away to visit our city. We also get great numbers of Japanese, Germans and Israelis”, says Daniel Popov..

According to EC studies some 60% of Europeans tend to be interested in cultural tourism. And this has accounted for a growing popularity of interest trips offered in Bulgaria. We now have the commentary of photographer Andy Lang from Canada.