Bulgaria’s Sliven Unveils Restored Late Roman, Medieval Bulgarian Fortress Tuida

The eastern Bulgarian city of Sliven has unveiled the restored Late Roman and medieval Byzantine and Bulgarian fortress of Tuida, which was in use between the 4th and the 13th century AD, as part of a project for the promotion of cultural tourism.

The restoration of the Tuida Fortress includes the reconstruction of part of the fortress wall to their original height from when they were first discovered in the 1980s – between 1.6 and 2.2 meters.

An amphitheater with 400 seats has also been built for performances and events. The restored fortress Tuida features an exhition area with restorations of medieval cannons, arms, and clothing.

The area inside the Tuida Fortress near Bulgaria’s Sliven, however, has not been excavated yet, and excavations there are bound to continue.

The remains of Tuida also include those of an Early Christian basilica and a unique Early Christian baptistery – a space for the baptism of newly converted Christians.

The restoration of the Tuida Fortress is part of a project for the restoration of three key medieval Bulgarian fortresses that were crucial for the defense of Bulgaria in the later years of the First Bulgarian Empire (632/680-1018 AD) – namely, Tuida in Sliven; the medieval Bulgarian fortress of Velbarzhd known in the Antiquity period as Pautalia, in today’s Western Bulgarian city of Kyustendil, and the Stipon Fortress in the Trajan’s Gate Pass near the southern Bulgarian town of Ihtiman (the Trayanovi Vrata Pass).

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The project for the restoration of the fortresses Tuida, Velbazhd (Pautalia), and Stipon (also called the Fortress of Trajan’s Gate Pass) is financed with funding from EU programs and the local municipalities of Sliven, Kyustendil, and Ihtiman, respectively, and is dedicated to the remembrance of the 1000th year since the death of Bulgarian Tsar Samuil (r. 971/997-1014 AD) who defended Bulgaria for more than 40 years against the Byzantine Empire led by Emperor Basil II known as Boulgaroktonos, i.e. “the Bulgar-slayer” (r. 976-1025 AD).

Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria died, allegedly of a heart attack, in 1014 AD, after the Byzantine Emperor Basil II captured some 14,000 Bulgarian soldiers in the Battle of Belasitsa (Battle of Kleidion / Clidium) and blinded them. However, Tsar Samuil defended Bulgaria successfully against Byzantium for several decades. In the Battle of the Trajan’s Gate Pass in 986 AD his forces annihilated the entire Byzantine army, with Emperor Basil II himself barely escaping death.

The three fortresses of Tuida, Velbazhd (Pautalia), and Stipon (Trajan’s Gate Pass), which were key in Bulgaria’s defense under Tsar Samuil, are just tiny percentage of the some 6,000 fortresses that existed in medieval Bulgaria, and most of which were razed to the ground by the invading Ottoman Turks at the end of the 14^th century, and after that, during the Early Ottoman period.

The vicinity or oftentimes even the downtown of every single Bulgarian city, town, or village harbors the ruins of ancient and medieval fortresses known under the Bulgarian word “gradishte” or the Turkish words “kale”, “hisar”, or “asar”.

Since 2008, there has been a growing movement all over Bulgaria for the rediscovery and restoration the lost fortresses in order to boost both cultural tourism, and patriotism.

So far about 30 fortresses or other archaeological sites around Bulgaria have been partly restored, and while some of the restorations have been botched by the architects and the builders making archaeological restorations a matter of public controversy, there are a number of examples that are believed to be positive.

Thus, according to data as of December 2014, the restoration of the fortress in the Black Sea resort of Sozopol has brought 1 million additional visitors, the restored fortress of Tsari Mali Grad in the town of Belchin near Samokov saw some 600,000 visitors in 2014 alone, the restored Ancient Roman Villa Armira near the town of Ivaylovgrad got 100,000 tourists, and the restored fortress Peristera near the town of Peshtera – 75,000 visitors in 6 months.

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Background Infonotes:

Тhe Tuida Fortress is a Late Roman, Early Byzantine and medieval Bulgarian fortress located on the Hisarlaka Hill in the eastern Bulgarian city of Sliven.

It was first excavated in 1982 by archaeologists from the Sliven Regional Museum of History and the National Institute and Museum of Archaeology of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The archaeologists have discovered there remains of a Late Iron Age Ancient Thracian settlement (6^th-1^st century BC) which in the Roman period turned into a market place; a 2^nd-4^th century Thracian settlement is cited in written sources as Tuida, Suida, or Tsoida. The name is believed to be of Thracian origin, though its precise ethymology is still unclear.

The Tuida Fortress was built after the capital of the Roman Empire was moved from Rome to Constantinople in 325 AD. It is known to have had a secret tunnel built in the 6^th century AD leading to the Novoselska River located to the west, a tributary of the Tundzha River.

The Tuida Fortress avoided destruction during the invasion of the Goths in 378 AD but was destroyed in the invasions of the Huns in the 5^th century AD. It was rebuilt during the reign of Roman Emperor Anastasius I (r. 491-518 AD), preserving but also enhancing the original architecture of the fortress. The Tuida Fortress was ultimately destroyed around 598-599 AD, most probably during an invasion of Avars and Slavs.

The territory around today’s Bulgarian city of Sliven was made part of Bulgaria, i.e. of the First Bulgarian Empire (632/680-1018 AD), around 705 AD when Bulgarian Khan (or Kanas) Tervel gained the Zagore Region south of the Balkan Mountains after he helped Byzantine Emperor Justinian II the Slit-nosed (Rhinotmetos or Rhinotmetus) (r. 685-695 and 705-711 AD) regain his throne in Constantinople. Thus, a Bulgarian settlement, whose name remains unknown, was built on the place of the Tuida Fortress. A lead seal of Bulgarian Knyaz Boris I Mihail (r. 852-889 AD) has been found there.

The Bulgarians rebuilt the fortress walls and the aquaduct of Tuida, and erected new buildings inside the fortress that were covered with marble slabs produced by stone cutters in the then Bulgarian capital Veliki Preslav (“Great Preslav”). Several bricks with an Ancient Bulgar sign (resembling “|Y|”) have been found there. Written sources indicated that Tuida was the seat of a bishop from the 4^th century AD onwards.

After the original excavations of the Tuida Fortress first started in 1982, they were resumed in 2004. The archaeological finds there include, in addition to Knyaz Boris I’s lead seal, a number of iron tools, ceramic vessels, ornaments, coins, and bones from 14 species of wild and domesticated birds including Bonelli’s eagle (Aquila fasciata), western capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), great bustard (Otis tarda), and common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus).

The archaeological excavations have revealed the fortress walls of Tuida, fortress towers and gates, remains of buildings, two marble pedestals dedicated to gods Apollo and Zeus which contain the name of the fortress as Tuida or Suida (known in written sources as Tsoida), a 3^rd century AD inscription describing the settlement as a market place, a cult complex used between the 4^th and the 13^th century consisting of a three-nave one-apse Early Christian basilica and a unique baptistery decorated with murals and mosaics.

The ruins of a larger basilica have been found outside the fortress walls (which encompassed an area of about 40 decares (app. 10 acres)) which is taken to mean that the settlement was not confined by the fortified area but spanned outside of it.

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