Dupnitsa Fortress

Dupnitsa Fortress, also known as the Tower, is a fortress of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages near Dupnitsa, built in the 5th–4th centuries BC. It stands 850 metres east of the town centre in a straight line, on a natural elevation on the right bank of the River Dzherman in the Tsifunyo area.

The defensive wall, built of rubble stone bonded with white mortar and courses of brick, encloses an area of 5–6 decares. Local accounts indicate that the fortress had six or seven towers. Northwest of the defensive wall lies a moat of impressive dimensions, 8 metres deep and more than 12 metres wide. The fortress was densely built up and inhabited during the Middle Ages, and fragments of domestic and building ceramics can be seen across the site today.

Archaeological excavations conducted in 2009–2010 established that the fortress was built over the remains of prehistoric structures dating from the 5th millennium BC. The fortress again shows activity during the Early Bronze Age, and discoveries include structures from the Early and Late Iron Ages. In the second half of the 6th century, the fortress was abandoned and burned.

In 1993, during the construction of a memorial to those killed in the wars of 1912–1918, the foundations of an 11th–12th-century medieval tower were discovered. The tower was almost square in plan, measuring 8 by 7.60 metres, with walls 1.30–1.40 metres thick, built using mud mortar. In the 12th century, the tower was abandoned, and habitation on the hill ceased until the present day.