Description of the attraction
The ruins of Veliki Preslav, once the capital of the Bulgarian kingdom, have been declared an archaeological and historical reserve. There is an archaeological museum founded more than 90 years ago, which is rich in all kinds of unique finds. The museum is proud of the Preslav gold treasure, a unique collection of lead seals of the rulers and dignitaries of Bulgaria and Byzantium. In addition, a ceramic icon of St. Theodore Stratilates is kept here.
It is known that the first stones were laid in the foundation of Preslav by Bulgarian builders in 821. And it was a city surrounded by solid stone walls, built like two concentric circles. The walls divided the city into two components - external and internal. The width of the outer wall was more than 3 meters, the material used in the construction of this wall is limestone (white stone). Inside, the width of the citadel wall varied between 2, 80-3 meters. It was she who defended the administrative buildings and the palace itself.
In addition to palaces, residential and utility buildings, the Round Church, otherwise the Golden Church, was considered a particularly valuable building in Velika Preslav. It was erected in 908. The dome, gilded on the outside, was tiled on the inside with mosaics on a gold background. This beautiful and majestic structure crowned the central part of the building. Twelve niches in the walls alternated with twelve columns of white marble. Together, this allows us to call the Round Church a unique example of the architecture of ancient Bulgaria. Remarkably, it was significantly ahead of the baroque style that appeared later in Europe.
