Written sources about the Royal Palace of Tarnovo are scarce and do not provide a complete picture of its exterior appearance or internal layout. Nevertheless, medieval accounts such as Gregory Tsamblak’s "Panegyric to Patriarch Euthymius" and the "Life of St. Sava" mention the royal buildings and the "warm chambers" of Ivan Asen II, while the "Life of Theodosius of Tarnovo" notes a newly built palace of Tsar Ivan Alexander.
Archaeological excavations mainly conducted between 1946 and 1969 on Tsarevets Hill reveal that the palace was situated on the northeastern slope of the hill, on a terrace about 220 meters above sea level. The complex has an irregular elliptical shape covering approximately 4,872 square meters, with a maximum width of 66 meters and length of 114 meters. It was constructed as a self-contained fortress with thick defensive walls and multiple towers, designed for prolonged defense.
At the center of the palace stands the palace church, a cross-domed structure with four free-standing supports and two vestibules (prytoria), the southern one being open and featuring a gallery with brick flooring. To stabilize the building on the sloping terrain, a substantial embankment and retaining wall were built, and the dome is supported by four intersecting walls. Seven graves were found inside the church, all of which had been looted.
The main entrance to the palace faces north and is marked by an elliptical cylindrical tower, in front of which a G-shaped wall with a gate was added in the second half of the 14th century. The northern wall is reinforced by two defensive towers, and the southern entrance is also guarded by two rectangular towers. In the 14th century, the western defensive wall was strengthened with a rectangular tower and a closed postern gate.
Residential and administrative buildings are arranged around an inner courtyard following a circular layout principle. Among them is a five-room building used for offices and storage, and a large ten-room residential building that housed the royal family. The southwestern part contains an economic building with a ground floor and upper story, likely serving as the palace dining hall, where large household ovens were discovered.
In the western part of the complex are the representative throne halls. The first, dating to the reign of Ivan Asen II, is a two-story elongated building with a large hall where the royal throne was located and the boyar council convened. The second throne hall, built around 1360 during Ivan Alexander’s reign, is a single-story rectangular hall measuring 16.5 by 7.9 meters, where a council against the Jews was held.
Construction materials include local sandstone rubble bonded with white mortar, wooden beams fixed with iron nails for reinforcement, and opus emplectum technique for the fortress walls filled with small stones and river ballast. Decorative elements feature ashlar blocks, marble consoles, bricks, and colorful ceramic plates. Facades have a broken line and ceramic plastic decoration typical of the Bulgarian architectural school within the Byzantine style.
The palace was equipped with a large masonry water reservoir to collect rainwater from the roof, ensuring water supply during sieges. Around the buildings, open spaces up to 10 meters wide were left for defensive purposes, including a large irregularly shaped square north of the main entrance used for receiving foreign delegations and organizing defense.
Over its two-century use (late 12th to late 14th century), the palace was repeatedly burned and rebuilt, maintaining its original plan and architectural style rooted in local building traditions. The final and most devastating destruction occurred during the Ottoman conquest in 1393, after which the palace was left in ruins and a large Muslim necropolis was established over it.
The few household and other artifacts found suggest that besides the royal family, boyars and palace servants lived there, including craftsmen responsible for maintaining clothing, footwear, and equipment. The palace buildings are smaller compared to those in earlier Bulgarian capitals like Pliska and Preslav, but the intricate facade decoration compensates for the lack of monumental scale.
The principle of arranging buildings around a small open courtyard, applied in the Tarnovo palace, is also characteristic of other medieval Bulgarian feudal castles and monasteries, indicating an established architectural tradition during the 12th–14th centuries.
The Royal Palace of Tarnovo stands as a significant monument of Bulgarian medieval architecture and culture, reflecting both the political and military power of the Second Bulgarian Empire and its artistic and construction mastery.