BULGARIA : VELIKI PRESLAV
Built over nearly three decades by Tsar Simeon, the second Bulgarian
capital was designed to correspond to the prosperity and upsurge of the
Bulgarian state, the conversion to Christianity, the creation of the
Slav script and culture.
As in Pliska, two fortress walls surrounded the city here too.
With its splendour and ornate decorations the inner city, housing the
palace complex and the famous Golden Church, demonstrated the power and
confidence of the Bulgarian rulers.
The nearby PATLEINA MONASTERY, part of the Veliki Preslav National
Archaeological Reserve, was a center of writers of the famous Preslav
school of literature and the place where the unique painted 'Preslav
ceramics' were crafted.
