Attractions Nearby
The Filip Totyu Birth House Museum
The Filip Totyu Birth House Museum is located in the Gartsite hamlet of the village of Voneshta Voda. It was opened as an exhibition of the Regional History Museum in 1975 and is one of the monuments dedicated to Bulgaria’s struggles for national liberation.
On one of the walls in the three small rooms of the exhibition, there is a panorama depicting the memorable battle of Filip Totyu’s detachment in the Kosmatitsa area near the village of Varbovka, in the Veliko Tarnovo region, which took place on 20 May 1867.
In front of the panorama, three stone obelisks with wreaths mark the memorable years of the voivode’s three glorious battles: 1866, 1867, and 1876. A traditional domestic corner, arranged with materials from the period, recreates the atmosphere in which his childhood years passed.
Visitors can learn about the life of the renowned voivode through specially prepared multimedia products. The exhibition presents key moments in his activity: the period of his free haiduk life in the Balkan Mountains, and the later period when he devoted himself to the struggle for the liberation of the homeland, defending the interests of the people with weapon in hand for 30 years.
Kilifarevo Monastery of the Dormition of the Mother of God
The Kilifarevo Monastery of the Dormition of the Mother of God is one of the most significant Bulgarian literary centres of the Middle Ages. The monastery, also associated with the name “Nativity of the Mother of God,” is located on the right bank of the Belitsa River, 12 km south of the city of Veliko Tarnovo.
It was founded in 1348 by the prominent Bulgarian hesychast Theodosius of Tarnovo, with the support of the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Alexander. Prominent theologians and monks gathered here, authors of dozens of works, and the monastery became a true spiritual centre of Orthodox hesychasm — a Christian teaching that spread across these lands at the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th century.
Numerous liturgical books, saints’ lives, sermons, and secular chronicles were translated in the holy monastery. This monastery, too, was repeatedly burned and plundered, and during one attack its icons were slashed.
The architect and builder of the residential building and the monastery church was the renowned master Kolyo Ficheto. The iconostasis and the icons of the church, created by woodcarvers and painters from the Tryavna School, are unsurpassed examples of Bulgarian National Revival art.
Bacho Kiro Cave
Bacho Kiro Cave is located in the area of the Dryanovo Monastery, in the picturesque canyons of the Andaka and Dryanovska rivers. It lies 300 metres from the St. Archangel Michael Monastery, in a vertical limestone cliff 25 metres high, at an altitude of 335 metres above sea level.
It was the first cave in Bulgaria to be developed for visitors, thanks to the tourists from Dryanovo, as early as 1937. It received its name in 1940 in honour of Bacho Kiro, a hero of the April Uprising. In 1962, it was declared a natural landmark.
The cave is a complex four-level labyrinth of cave galleries and branches, approximately 3,600 metres long. A 700-metre developed section is accessible to visitors.
It was formed in three main directions — east, northeast, and southeast — by underground rivers flowing through solid Urgonian limestone, formed on the bottom of a warm ancient sea. Geomorphological studies suggest that its formation continued for 1,800,000 years.
Its formation is closely connected with the development of the valley of the Dryanovska River and its tributary, the Andaka River.
Over time, the rivers shaped the cave galleries and halls. This took place during the Late Tertiary and Quaternary periods. This was the primary stage in the formation of the cave.
From that point onward, the secondary stage began — the artist appeared: the karst waters. The tireless drops of water, enriched with limestone matter, gradually sculpted the beautiful cave formations over hundreds of thousands of years — stalactites, stalagmites, and stalactones — giving them the most curious and unusual shapes.
The impressive lighting offers visitors the opportunity to see the curious natural formations, which have been named according to what they resemble: the Rain Hall, the Stone Flower, the Poplars, the Lake of Happiness, the Concert Hall, located at 18 m above sea level, the Antechamber, the Jellyfish, the Bear Slide, the Bear Meadow, the Lonely Stalactone, the Hall of Pop Hariton, the Elephant, the Cave Ear, Purgatory, the Throne, the Cave Eagle, and the Reception Hall, with hundreds of shapes and formations.
Bacho Kiro Cave is an archaeological site of national importance and is listed under No. 22 among Bulgaria’s 100 National Tourist Sites. Since it was first developed for visitors in 1937, the cave has been managed by the Bacho Kiro Tourist Association in the town of Dryanovo.
Tsarevets
Tsarevets is a hill in Veliko Tarnovo, as well as the fortress of the same name in the medieval city of Tarnovgrad.
It is located near the Old Town of Veliko Tarnovo. It was the main Bulgarian fortress during the Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396), when Tarnovo was the capital. In the Middle Ages, the hill on which it stands was entirely built up with residential and administrative buildings.
According to legend, in Roman times there were fortifications that guarded the road to the magnificent Nicopolis ad Istrum. When the barbarians invaded, they besieged and destroyed the great city. The Romans then settled in the fortresses.
Beneath them were large underground chambers connected by a tunnel. In the galleries, the Romans hid the treasures of Nicopolis. They reinforced the fortresses and held them for some time. When they were forced to retreat, they set deadly mechanisms in the galleries and coated them with poison.
The secret entrances were disguised. The entrance to the underground chamber beneath Tsarevets was located in the southern part. A gallery led to an underground lake. Only a person who knew the secret of the treasure could continue. A hidden mechanism drained the water, and steps led to another gallery.
From there, several levels descended further underground. On each level, the Romans left a treasure. Many dangers lurked in the galleries leading to the treasuries. If an uninitiated person entered, they would never return alive. In every hall there were priceless objects of gold and silver, decorated with precious stones. Countless gold coins were piled in heaps.
The underground chamber beneath Momina Krepost had two levels. The treasure was below. The entrance was a large well. Water could be seen at the bottom. Steps led down, and there, to the side, a gallery began. When the Romans withdrew, they placed a stone slab over it and covered it. There was a second entrance lower down. The marker was a large square stone with a ball on top.
