Pliska was the first capital of the First Bulgarian Kingdom (681-893 AD) . Pliska’s ruins lie 3 km north of today’s village of Pliska. Its name was mentioned in many resources most significant of which are the Bulgarian apocryphal chronicle from XI c. AD as the town of Plyuska founded by Asparuh Khan, the Byzantine authors George Cedrin, John Zonara, Anna Komnina as Pliskusa. The town had area of 23 km2 and was surrounded by 21 km long defensive line built up of moat and rampart. The Inner town had area of 0.5 km2 rectangular shape and had 2.6 m thick and about 12 m high fortress walls, cylindrical towers at each corner, and two other towers at each wall.
In the Inner town there was situated the Big palace (Khan Krum’s palace) which has it’s own defensive walls and towers and the so called Palace centre which formed the third defensive line of the town. With its great size and advanced fortification system Pliska was a really remarkable state centre in the early medieval ages. Pliska was sacked by the Byzantine army in 811, but the invaders were soon driven out by Khan Krum (see Battle of Pliska). Khan Omurtag brought in artisans and craftsmen to improve the city. In 886, Boris I founded the Pliska Literary School (after 893 Preslav Literary School), which was headed by Naum of Preslav.In 892, the city became the scene of a pagan revolt led by King Vladimir. After the crushing of the revolt, Vladimir was dethroned and the third son of Boris I, Simeon, was installed into power. One of the first steps of the new ruler was to move the capital to Preslav, a fortified town in the vicinity of Pliska, probably because of the steadily strong pagan influence in the old capital.The importance of Pliska gradually waned throughout the 10th century with the concentration of power and resources in Preslav. The city was destroyed during the assaults of the Kievan Rus’ and the Byzantine Empire between 969 and 972 and was not rebuilt again.The ruins of the city of Pliska lie 3 km north of the modern village of Pliska. The site of the city is currently a National Archaeological Reserve.
Google Earth Placemark - Pliska the capital of First Bulgarian Kingdom

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