There are many historical landmarks including a richly-decorated Late Roman tomb, remains of the medieval fortress, an Ottoman fort, and an art gallery.

During the reigns of Claudius (41-54 AD) and Nero (54-68), the eastern border of Moesia was extended to the mouth of the river Iatrus (the modern Yantra).

After Trajan's Dacian Wars the fort was enlarged into a legionary fortress for the Legio XI Claudia who stayed there from before 114 until c.

[7] It became an important military centre of the Roman province of Moesia, and grew into a city at the time of Marcus Aurelius.

The earliest saints of Bulgaria are Roman soldiers executed at Durostorum during the Diocletian Persecution (303–313), including St. Dasius and St. Julius the Veteran.

Auxentius was expelled from Durostorum by an edict of Theodosius depriving Arian bishops in 383, and took refuge at Milan where he became embroiled in controversy with St Ambrose.

In 895 (during the Bulgarian-Hungarian War of 894–896), the Hungarians, allies of the Byzantines, besieged the Bulgarian army under the personal command of Simeon I the Great in the fortress of the town but were repulsed.

In 976, Tsar Samuel restored Bulgarian rule in the region until 1001, when it once again became part of the Byzantine Empire as Dristra.

In 1279, under Emperor Ivailo, Drastar was attacked by the Mongols; but after a three-month-long siege the Bulgarians managed to break through.

Between 1819 and 1826, Eliezer Papo — a renowned Jewish scholar — was the rabbi of the community of Silistra, making this town famous among observant Jews.

Up to the present, his grave is a focus of pilgrimage, some pilgrims flying from Israel and even from Latin America to Bulgaria for that purpose.

Romania was opposed to this as it wanted to acquire the city and established the short-lived Silistra Nouă County, which was abolished a year later.

In May 1913, following the Second Balkan War and after unsuccessful Bulgarian-Romanian negotiations in London, the two countries accepted the mediation of the Great Powers, who awarded Silistra and the area in a 3 km radius around it to Romania at the Saint Petersburg Conference.

Following the establishment of the People's Republic of Bulgaria, Silistra developed as a center of industry and agriculture in the region, comparable to Ruse (because of the strategic position on the Danube) and Dobrich (due to the abundant fertile lands).