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Asenova krepost
The Asenova krepost (The fortress of Asen) is a medieval fortress in the Rhodope Mountains, 3 km south of the town of Asenovgrad, 20 km from Plovdiv and 168 km from Sofia, located on a high rocky ridge on the left bank of the Asenitsa River. The earliest archaeological findings in the fortress are form Thracian settlements, the area of the fortress being also inhabited during the Ancient Roman and Early Byzantine period. The fortress gained importance in the Middle Ages. It was considerably renconstructed in the XIIIth century during the rule of Bulgarian tsar Ivan Asen II to serve as a border fortification against Latin raids. The foundations of fortified walls (the outer ones being 2.9 m thick and preserved up to a height of 3 m, originally 9 - 12 m high), a feudal castle with 30 rooms and 3 water repositories from the same period have been excavated so far. The best preserved and most notable feature of Asenova krepost is the Holy Theotokos of Petrich Church from the XIIth - XIIIth century. It is a two-storey cross-domed single-naved building with a wide narthex and a large rectangular tower which features mural paintings from XIVth century. The conservation and partial restoration works on the church were finished in 1991 (the whole fortress was left to decay after the Ottoman conquest in the XIVth century and only the church remained standing in its original appearance as it was used by the local Christians) and now it is in regular use as a Bulgarian Orthodox Church.
The Asenova krepost (The fortress of Asen) is a medieval fortress in the Rhodope Mountains, 3 km south of the town of Asenovgrad, 20 km from Plovdiv and 168 km from Sofia, located on a high rocky ridge on the left bank of the Asenitsa River. The earliest archaeological findings in the fortress are form Thracian settlements, the area of the fortress being also inhabited during the Ancient Roman and Early Byzantine period. The fortress gained importance in the Middle Ages. It was considerably renconstructed in the XIIIth century during the rule of Bulgarian tsar Ivan Asen II to serve as a border fortification against Latin raids. The foundations of fortified walls (the outer ones being 2.9 m thick and preserved up to a height of 3 m, originally 9 - 12 m high), a feudal castle with 30 rooms and 3 water repositories from the same period have been excavated so far. The best preserved and most notable feature of Asenova krepost is the Holy Theotokos of Petrich Church from the XIIth - XIIIth century. It is a two-storey cross-domed single-naved building with a wide narthex and a large rectangular tower which features mural paintings from XIVth century. The conservation and partial restoration works on the church were finished in 1991 (the whole fortress was left to decay after the Ottoman conquest in the XIVth century and only the church remained standing in its original appearance as it was used by the local Christians) and now it is in regular use as a Bulgarian Orthodox Church.
