PRESLAV RUINS

These remarkable ruins are located 20 km south-west of the town of Shoumen and are classified as a National Archaeological Reserve. They are the remains of a medieval Bulgarian city which, after Pliska, was the second capital of the First Bulgarian Empire, from 893 to 971. Under the Second Bulgarian Empire (1185-1393), it was replaced as capital by Veliko Tarnovo. However, it remained an important city. The abandoned site was replaced by a new village 2 km to the north, which took the name Preslav in 1878 - in fact, Veliko Preslav (Great Preslav), after Veliko Tarnovo. Veliko Preslav became a municipality in its own right with a dedicated administration in 1883. Today, this relatively peaceful town has just under 10,000 inhabitants.

The ruins of the former Bulgarian capital are impressive to explore, particularly in terms of the surface area they cover. The remains include ramparts, public buildings, workshops, palaces and baths. The most prestigious monument is the Golden Dome or Round Church, built in 908, when the capital became the spiritual center of the new religion and the cultural home of the new nation. Under its dome, this religious monument protects mosaics and sculptures representative of early Bulgarian art. The most famous ceramic icon, that of Saint Theodore Stratilate, is preserved in Sofia's National Museum of Archaeology.