Baldwin's Tower

Baldwin's Tower, in the Tsarevets Architectural and Museum Reserve in Veliko Tarnovo, is a southeastern defensive tower intended to protect the most vulnerable points of the Tsarevgrad Tarnovo fortress: the Frenkhisar Gate and the water source at the Yantra River.

The tower's name is associated with medieval legends about the Latin emperor Baldwin of Flanders. According to some traditions, Baldwin vanished without trace after the Battle of Adrianople in 1205; others say that he was captured by the Bulgarian tsar Kaloyan and met his death in this tower.

In 1848 the master builders Hadzhi Penko Tuleshkov and his brother Geno, from Dryanovo, reconstructed the tower, adding an upper structure with a massive dome. This alteration was intended to allow it to serve as a fortress powder magazine.

In 1933 the modern tower was restored to a design by architect Aleksandar Rashenov. The restoration followed the style of a surviving medieval tower at Cherven Fortress near Ruse.