The rock city of Perperikon at a distance of 20 km from today’s regional centre Kurdjali is a centre of the megalithic culture in the Rhodope region. The place was deified by the people already during the Chalcolithic Age (fifth - foruth millennium BC).The first constructions hewn into the rocks appeared already during the Late Bronze Age (18th - 11th century BC): niches oriented to the Sun, stone altars, basins for crushing the grapes and for making sacred wine. Temples and palaces were gradually created near them until finally the city took shape. It consists of am imposing Acropolis on the top, a fortified palace-sanctuary, and developed fortifications from the north and south. Entire ground floors of the buildings are hewn into the rock to a depth of up to 3-4 m. The streets, the courtyards and the squares were hewn into the rocks, often surrounded bu beautiful colonnades. An ingenious sewage system was created for their draining during rain. The palace-sanctuary is the architectural masterpiece of Perperikon. Its ground floor covers 10 000 sq. m. and has 50 separate rooms: halls, rooms, corridors and indoor staircases. Some of the key elements are the large reception hall, more than 30 m long, the two underground mausoleums with tombs from the east and from the west, and the earliest temple cut into the rocks, which was subsequently incorporated in the northwestern corner of palace-sanctuary. The grandiose architectural ensemble is positioned in a staircase-like fashion on several stories. The plan of the megaron is clearly perceived in the general appearance of the complex. This Mediterranean type of castles originates from the island of Crete, and it is among the main characteristics of the great Minoan culture. An inscription with characters in the Cretan Linear A script, dated to the 15th - 14th century BC, was discovered in Perperikon. The palace-sanctuary was a fortified capital city of the Thracian kings in the Rhodope Mountains.The Romans who came to the Balkans in the 1st century developed and urbanised the ancient Thracian city. The Christianization of the Rhodope region started from there in the early 5th century. Perperikon remained an important military fortress and bishopric centre. After the Ottoman Turks came, the ruins of that city sank into oblivion and were buried under tons of earth.

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