Information
Landmark: PreslavCity: Shumen
Country: Bulgaria
Continent: Europe
Preslav, Shumen, Bulgaria, Europe
Overview
Preslav-once called Veliki Preslav, or “Great Preslav”-stands among Bulgaria’s most important historic cities, where stone walls still whisper stories from a thousand years ago.After Pliska, it became the Second Capital of the First Bulgarian Empire, a bustling heart of politics, culture, and faith in the empire’s golden age of the 9th and 10th centuries, when church bells rang across its stone streets.Preslav sits just outside today’s city of Shumen, up in the northeast corner of Bulgaria.In 893 AD, during the reign of Tsar Simeon I the Great, Preslav rose to prominence as the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire, its streets and walls built to rival the splendor of Constantinople and reflect a thriving Bulgarian culture.Under Simeon’s rule, the city became the beating heart of the Bulgarian Golden Age, alive with scholars and writers shaping the Old Bulgarian (Cyrillic) script and enriching Slavic literature.This brilliance dimmed in 971, when Byzantine forces captured Preslav, stripping it of its capital status-a role later claimed by Tarnovo in the Second Bulgarian Empire.Surrounded by stout stone walls, the city’s outer section spread over about five square kilometers, filled with homes, workshops, and busy markets, while the inner fortress guarded treasures like the striking Round (Golden) Church, its circular form and ornate designs a testament to Simeon’s wealth and piety.The Royal Palace’s vast halls, colonnades, and carved stonework still whisper of imperial grandeur, and painted ceramics-tiles, icons, delicate fragments-reveal the artistry for which Preslav was famed.As home to the Preslav Literary School, the city nurtured towering figures such as Constantine of Preslav and John the Exarch, who translated sacred texts and penned original works that fueled Slavic Orthodox Christianity after Bulgaria’s adoption of the faith in 864.Today, visitors can explore the Preslav Archaeological Museum, study the ruins of the Golden Church, wander the remnants of palaces and fortifications in the archaeological reserve, and venture to nearby sites like Pliska and the Madara Rider.Just 20 kilometers southeast of Shumen, Preslav is easy to reach by road.Preslav draws history lovers eager to explore Bulgaria’s medieval past, its stone arches and ancient streets still echoing the First Bulgarian Empire’s cultural and political triumphs, a vivid reminder of the splendor of the Bulgarian Golden Age.
