A 1983 study of the Neutzikon Fortress near the village of Mezek discovered unknown elements of its plan and corrected its dating. Its walls, surrounding an area of seven decares, were built from shattered stones soldered with white plaster. On the front side of the walls are three panels made up of four rows of bricks used for decorative purposes, which therefore do not cover the whole length of the wall, unlike in the earlier fortresses. The fortress is most inaccessible from the north due to the steep incline and, because of that, the wall there has the smallest thickness, 1.9m, and is reinforced with only one tower. The weak spot of the fortress is the southern wall because of the leveled terrain in front of it. Its thickness is 2.6m and it is reinforced with five towers. The thickness of the eastern and the western walls is 2.3m and they are reinforced, respectively, with one and two towers. The main entrance of the fortress is situated in a turn of the western wall. It is set up in a way that the attackers fall into a trap on a small platform that is being shot with arrows from two sides. The approach to the entrance passes along the whole length of the western fortress wall. Attackers were forced to move towards the entrance with their right-hand side turned and unprotected by a shield against the defenders of the fortress, who were firing arrows at them.
Continue reading Neutzicon Fortress near the village of Mezek, Svilengrad municipality

The fortress is situated on a wide plateau on the top of a ridge 2.2km westwards of the town of Madjarovo. The road leading to the fortress is very picturesque and suitable for cars and walking tours. There is a chapel built near the fortress, in which a fair of the surrounding villages is held every May 24th. Obviously the place was honored from ancient times. During an archeological investigation, a Thracian sanctuary was discovered near a rock, north of the fortress. An impound-domed well built there is still used by local people for ritual washings during the local fair.
Continue reading Ancient Cult Complex and Fortress at Madjarovo municipality

Ljutica Fortress is one of the best-preserved in its original appearance medieval fortresses in Bulgaria. It vies with the fortresses near the villages of Mezek, Matochina and others, which are considered as the best-preserved medieval fortresses in all Bulgaria.The fortress was built on Gradishteto, a Rhodopes peak overgrown with forest, situated six kilometers west of Ladja neighborhood of Ivailovgrad. Its walls, surrounding an area of 14 decares, are preserved to their original height of 6m and are 1.75m thick. They were built of processed stones soldered with white mortar. The defense line of the fortress was fortified with 12 towers, some of which are preserved almost to their original height of 9m. Most of them are rectangular but there are also semicircular, trapezoidal and octagonal towers. The towers were three stories high, topped with combat platforms and equipped with loopholes. The lower floors of the south towers were used as living rooms, while those of the north towers served as water reservoirs. Evidence for this can be found in the manner that climbing to the combat platform was organized in each tower. Getting to the platforms, in those used as living rooms, was done by climbing wooden staircases, while stone stairs, detached from the fortification walls, were used to get to the top of the ones used as water reservoirs.
Continue reading Ljutica Fortress near Ivailovgrad Bulgaria

The fortress is situated on a naturally protected peak that is difficult to access. The slopes of the peak descend steeply towards Biala Reka River, which surrounds it on three sides. The fortress walls enclose an area of 13,000 square meters. They are preserved up to a 7-8 meter height and are two meters thick. At the eastern part of the fortress, where the terrain is more accessible, there is a secondary defense wall built at a distance of 10-15 meters from the first wall. The terrain inside the fortress is 4-5 meters higher compared to the terrain outside the fortress. This made undermining the walls and breaking through with siege weapons impossible.
Continue reading Byalgrad aka Whitestone Town Medieval Fortress

The Thracian tomb was built and then a four-meter high mound was piled over it. The burial site is composed of rectangular burial chamber, antechamber and a corridor. The burial chamber was built of marble and limestone blocks joined with iron clamps poured with lead. The floor was paved with marble plates. The chamber was covered with huge lime-stone blocks. The first row of the walls was made of cubic marble plates, in which decorations were chiseled out. Geometrical figures – discs, plates, rectangles, pentacles, as well as two realistic zoomorphic images – a fish and the head of a horse – are part of the decoration of the tomb. These figures along with the half-moon chiseled out near the entrance form a composition with strong aesthetic impact that most probably hides encoded information related to the burial cult.

Continue reading Thracian Tomb near the village of Dolno Lukovo, Ivailovgrad municipality Bulgaria

A natural furrow additionally carved and shaped like a small rock basin, can be found approximately 1.5km southeast from the village of Oriahovo in the valley of the riverbanks. Throughout the year, it is filled with water that does not dry up even during times of drought. The liquid flows in the basin from a crack in the rock. There are reasons to believe that during antiquity, before the deforestation of the region, the natural spring was far more deep-watered.

The Ancient Thracians gave a divine notion to the springs and often turned them into sanctuaries dedicated to the water nymphs, called nympheums. The additional carvings in the basin of the vicinity of God’s Step were probably done for this purpose. It is apparent that this sanctuary was part of the huge cult burial complex on the land of the village of Oriahovo, which also includes several dolmen tombs and cult rock niches. They were used for performing rituals connected with the cult of the dead, as well as those connected with the Thracian belief in a cyclic recurrence of the permanently reviving nature.

Continue reading God’s Step, Ljubimetz municipality Bulgaria