The Belogradchik Fortress, also known as Kaleto(from Turkish kale), is an ancient fortress located on the north slopes of the Balkan Mountains, close to the northwestern Bulgarian town of Belogradchik and is the town's primary cultural and historical tourist attraction, drawing, together with the Belogradchik Rocks, the main flow of tourists into the region.
It is one of the best-preserved strongholds in Bulgaria and a cultural monument of national importance.
The fortress's walls are over 2 metres (6.6 ft) thick in the foundation and reaching up to 12 m (39 ft) in height. Three separate fortified yards exist that are connected with each other through gates. The fortress has a total area of 10,210 square metres (109,900 sq ft). The Belogradchik Fortress was reconstructed to later become a proclaimed cultural monument. It is managed by the local historical museum authority.
The initial fortress was constructed during the time when the region was part of the Roman Empire. The rock formations in the area served as a natural protection, as fortified walls were practically only built from the northwest and southeast, with the yard being surrounded by rocks up to 70 m (230 ft) high from the other sides.
Initially, the Belogradchik Fortress served for surveillance and not strictly defense. Bulgarian tsar of Vidin Ivan Stratsimir extended the old fortress in the 14th century, building fortified garrisons in front of the existing rock massifs.
During Stratsimir's rule, the Belogradchik Fortress became one of the most important strongholds in the region, second only to the tsar's capital fortress of Vidin, Baba Vida.
During the Ottoman conquest of Bulgaria, the fortress was captured by the Ottomans in 1396. They were forced to further expand the stronghold due to the intensified hajduk and insurrectionist activity in the region.
Considerable changes to the fortress were made in the early 19th century. These changes were typical for the Ottoman castle architecture of the period, a full reorganization being carried out, as well as additional expansion. Typically European elements were added to the Belogradchik Fortress owing to the French and Italian engineers that participated in the expansion.
The stronghold had an important role in the Ottoman suppression of the Bulgarian Belogradchik Uprising of 1850. It was last used in warfare during the Serbo-Bulgarian War in 1885.
Welcome to see this place full of history with your eyes!
That was a good history lesson. You can select the Edit button and add the #travelfeed tag instead of some less irrelevant one. Like Steem in this case. And next time when there are enough words in your text (over 250) and photographs (even one is enough), you could use the new travelfeed.io interface where you log in with the same passwords. You should benefit better from it. That #travelfeed is Steem's special channel for travel-related posts. Check out their community profile, posts under the tag, and eventually, their community server on Discord. This is a nice way for newcomers to start and almost immediately find some attention.
Обикновено в Стийм отговарям на английски, за да научат и случайно попаднали на коментара хора за какво става дума. Поздрави и успехи!
@manoldonchev ще взема на сериозно забележката за травелфийд. ;) Благодаря!
@manoldonchev Да попитам само една снимка ли може да се качва в поста на травелфийд, че не виждам опция за втора и трета снимка?
Featured image полето е само за една, но в нормалното тяло на статията трябва да имаш опция да добавяш многократно изображения. Има и вариант да минеш на HTML + Markdown editor. На мен там ми е по-удобно, заради навиците от steemit.com editor. Но най-важното на травълфийд е да се запознаеш с тях във чата в Дискорд. Ще минат седмица-две май, за да приемат нови автори да споделят линкове, след като вече са присъствали на сървъра и си имат разни правила. Но пък могат да се намерят приятели и всякакви отгвори, включително на технически въпроси.
В общи линии, общността реши да си направи свой си сайт и той още създава трудности понякога. Ама си вкараха нови правила. Само линкове от него могат да се споделят в Дискорда им.