Trapezitsa (fortress)

Trapezitsa (Bulgarian: Трапезица) is a medieval stronghold located on a hill with the same name in Veliko Tarnovo in northern Bulgaria.

The most likely origin is the word “trapezits” – soldiers guarding the passes who were the first settlers on the hill in the Middle Ages.

The first traces of the medieval defense system on Trapezitsa date back to the 60-80s of the XII century.

The fortress is called "The Glorious City of Trapezitsa" in medieval Bulgarian and Byzantine biographies of St. John of Rila, including those written by St. Patriarch Euthymius, in "Applied Biography of Gabriel Lesnowski" and a number of postscripts on Revival books.

The main entrance to Trapezitsa was located on the southeast side and was connected to Tsarevets by a bridge over the Yantra River opposite the Holy Forty Martyrs Church.

The churches of Trapezitsa were richly decorated with various architectural forms: pilasters, niches, blind arches, colored slabs and multicolored clay round or four-leafed plates, glazed green or yellow, arranged in one or more arcuate rows.

Immediately after the Liberation of Bulgaria during the interim Russian rule, Marin Drinov, a professor at Kharkiv University and commissioner for education in free Bulgaria, together with Dr. Vasil Beron, chairman of the Tarnovo Archaeological Society, made the first excavations at Trapezitsa.