The second year of the archaeological excavations in the citadel of Kokalyanski Urvich ended with a seminar "Medieval fortress construction - landscapes and architectural concepts"

The National History Museum hosted a seminar on the topic "Medieval fortress construction - landscapes and architectural concepts", within the project "Research of the Citadel of the Kokalyanski Urvich Fortress 2022", implemented with the financial support of the Culture Program of the Metropolitan Municipality and in sync with the horizontal priorities of the capital for 2022, namely, related to the disclosure, preservation and socialization of immovable cultural heritage.

Prof. Nikolay Ovcharov took part in the seminar with reports, who presented to the audience the history of the studies of the Kokalyan fortress in the period up to 2016. One of the connoisseurs of the centuries-old history of Bulgarian architecture and construction, Prof. Arch. Nikolay Tuleshkov, made a kind of overview of the roads and road facilities and revealed details about the road connections in the Balkans and the place of Kokalianski Urvich, as the guardian of Serdika and later of Sredets. Archaeologist Filip Petrunov presented the latest results of the studies of the citadel in the Kokalyanski Urvich fortress.

Kokalianski Urvich is the only fortress accessible to Sofians with a proven horizon from the period of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom. It is located between the Vitosha, Plana and Lozenska mountains and is located on a hill called "Sreobsbidie", towering over the meanders of the Iskar river. This fortress is an irrevocable part of Sofia's cultural heritage. The toponym Urvich is mentioned for the first time in chronicles from the XNUMXth century, related to the defense of the Second Bulgarian State, and also in Paisieva's "Slavic Bulgarian History".

The seminar aimed to promote the new part of Pancharevo Park, as well as the new discoveries from the archaeological site. The seminar was started by the Bistryka grandmothers with a performance of the folk song about the burning of Urvich "Son sonila Sofia Tsaritsa". Students and teachers from Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", Plovdiv University "Paisiy Hilendarski" and New Bulgarian University. The presented results and findings were displayed on posters and showcases specially prepared for the workshop.