Bozhenishki Urvich

Bozhenishki Urvich is a medieval stone fortification, now an archaeological monument with the status of a site of national significance. The history of this old fortified settlement began to emerge in 1918, when a medieval rock inscription by Sebastos Ognyan was discovered among the roots of a fallen centuries-old tree.

Archaeological investigations carried out in 1972 showed that the site had been inhabited since prehistoric times, but that its earliest fortifications dated from the 5th–6th centuries, as part of the early Byzantine defensive system. The fortress reached its peak in the 13th–14th centuries, when the outermost defensive wall was built, blocking the only accessible approach from the north towards Bozhenitsa. At the end of the 14th century, it served as the seat of the boyar Ognen, or Ognyan, a kephale under Tsar Ivan Shishman.

In 1966, Bozhenishki Urvich was designated a site of national significance, and the first excavations by the Sebastos Ognyan expedition began in 1971. Investigations took eight years to uncover the fortress fully, after which efforts turned to conserving and restoring the exposed architecture.

Initially, three defensive circuits were uncovered, two built in the late 5th and early 6th centuries and the third dating from the 14th century, the time of Ivan Shishman. The inner defensive wall is 200 metres long and up to 2.70 metres wide in places. The outer wall is 4–6 metres high and has four buttresses. The citadel covers 80 square metres, while the fortress has a total area of 1,600 square metres. Other impressive features are the deep, mortar-lined water cistern, a pit 10 metres deep, and the chapel cut into the rock inside the fortress.

Near the gate, at a depth of between 0.2 and 1.5 metres, a hoard of 1,327 silver groshes and half-groshes was discovered, bearing an image of Tsar Ivan Alexander and an image of the Mother of God with the infant Christ on the obverse. The coins had been clipped around their edges to save precious metal, indicating inflationary pressure on Bulgarian coinage during this period and strain on state finances resulting from military operations.