Medieval Bulgarian Towns, Fortresses & Monasteries

Capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire from 1185 until it fell to the Ottomans in 1393.

Danube stronghold, seat of Ivan Sratsimir's Vidin tsardom until 1396.

The old capital of the First Empire, a fortress and centre again under the Asens.

The chief stronghold of the west, lost to the Ottomans around 1382.

Thracian city fought over by Bulgarians, Byzantines and Latins.

Seat of the Archbishopric of Ohrid; under Bulgarian rule after Klokotnitsa (1230).

Hill town in the Pirin, seat of Despot Alexius Slav in the early thirteenth century.

Danube city and metropolitan see on the edge of the steppe.

Fortified town above the Cherni Lom, a church and trading centre of northern Bulgaria.

Town near which Tsar Michael III Shishman fell fighting the Serbs in 1330.

Black Sea port taken by Kaloyan in 1201.

Black Sea town of churches, captured by Amadeus of Savoy in 1366.

Port on the Gulf of Burgas that passed back and forth between Bulgaria and Byzantium.

Port fortress on the southern shore of the Gulf of Burgas.

Cape fortress, centre of the Dobruja lords Balik and Dobrotitsa in the fourteenth century.

The house of St John of Rila, granted the Rila Charter by Ivan Shishman in 1378.

Monastery founded by the Georgian Gregory Pakourianos, patronised by Ivan Alexander.

Founded around 1350 by Theodosius of Tarnovo with Ivan Alexander's support; a centre of hesychasm.

The Bulgarian monastery on Mount Athos, endowed by Ivan Alexander's charter of 1342.

Church below Vitosha painted in 1259 for the sebastocrator Kaloyan.

Rock-cut monastery above the Rusenski Lom, painted with Ivan Alexander's patronage.

Fortress Isaac II Angelos besieged in vain for three months in 1188; Ivan Alexander's appanage before 1331.

Danube fortress, Ivan Shishman's last refuge and the site of the crusaders' rout in 1396.

Fortress on the Shumen plateau, taken by the Ottomans in 1388.

Fortress near Burgas beside which Ivan Alexander defeated Andronikos III in 1332.

Rhodope stronghold fought over by Bulgaria and Nicaea in the thirteenth century.

Rhodope fortress rebuilt by Ivan Asen II, as his inscription of 1231 records.