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Tsarevets Fortress

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01. Descriere

The architectural and museum complex called Tsarevets is located on the hill with the same name in the old center of Veliko Târnovo. The area has been inhabited since the year 3 BC, and in the  century V-VII A.D here was the great Byzantine city of Zikideva. In the 9th century, a settlement was erected by the old Bulgarians, protected by the walls of the fortress. Târnovo was proclaimed capital of the second Bulgarian Kingdom in 1185, and the fortress became extremely important as an administrative, military, cultural, religious and commercial center. On the Tsarevets hill were located the important buildings for the administration of the country, the royal palace complex, the houses for aristocracy, monasteries, and right on top the Patriarchal Church. The fortress has three entrances, namely the main entrance, the small gate (Asen) and the Frenkhisarska gate, which was guarded by towers. The most famous is the Baldwin Tower, where the Latin emperor Baldwin of Flanders was imprisoned in 1205. The kings who ruled the second Bulgarian Kingdom in the city of Tsarevets are Asen I, Peter IV, Kaloyan, Ivan Asan II, Ivan Alexander, Ivan Shishman. A great tourist attraction is the audiovisual show of sound and light, consisting of hundreds of colored lights, music, and lasers projected on the walls of the fortress and which present moments from the history of Bulgaria.

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