Detailed interactive map Veliko Trnovo
This is a place on earth where future meets past to build present. Veliko Trnovo is the city of a legendary and tragic fate. It remembers a lot of tribes, peoples, heroes. Veliko Trnovo, one of the oldest towns in Bulgaria, is situated on 4 hills. From the 12 century Veliko Trnovo has long been the center of the ancient Bulgarian kingdom. Its contemporaries admired its strength and beauty, compared with great Constantinople. This city was the main city of Bulgaria both in heydays of the kingdom in the 13 century, and during the struggle with the Ottoman invasion of the 14 th century, and during the adoption of the first constitution in 1874. It was exactly the town which kept Bulgarian traditions and Bulgarian shrine for a period of almost 500 - year-old Ottoman rule, called for a fight against the invaders, was in the 18-19 centuries a large industrial and commercial center of the country. High level of economic development has also provoked the rise of public education. It was the period of creation of outstanding monuments of Bulgarian culture. Since 1878, after liberation of Bulgaria, as a result of the defeat of Russia Empire of the Ottoman Empire, until World War I, Veliko Trnovo remained a significant administrative and economic center of the country. The independence of Bulgaria was proclaimed in 1879 here; and the most important for the development of the country parliamentary decisions were also had taken in this city. Archaeological studies have found within the city quite a few ancient buildings. The most significant of them are a palace of a king and a patriarch, which fully demonstrate art of masters of that time.
A part of the old city of 18-19 centuries, with beautiful interiors, manual work and a cafe is best preserved. Today it is the most beautiful and interesting city in Bulgaria.
If you decide to visit this unusual city, first of all, you should see Tsarevets hill - the place of patriarchal churches and royal palaces, the hill where still stands the Baldwin tower, connected with the legend of the Latin Emperor Baldwin of Flanders, who was captured by the king Kaloyan. You must see another hill - Trapezitsa, where 17 medieval churches were discovered.
Veliko Trnovo has given to the world a chronicle of Manasseh and the Four Gospels of Tsar Ivan Alexander. It was the birthplace of Theodosius of Trnovo and St. Evtimus, the Patriarch of Trnovo.
