Kamaka Fortress in Oryahovo

Kamaka is the modern name of a medieval and Ottoman fortress built in the ninth century as part of the Danube defensive system of the First Bulgarian Empire. Its excavated structures, including the square two-storey tower, defensive wall and entrance, provide important information about medieval builders' architecture and engineering skills. The discoveries also support the study of life and customs in the settlement during different periods. Kamaka passed through several historical phases, including changes in the ninth–eleventh and twelfth–fourteenth centuries, when a new fortification was built. It also came under Byzantine rule in the eleventh century and under the authority of the Tarnovo tsar Ivan Shishman in the fourteenth. Rahovo Fortress is associated with events during the Second Bulgarian Empire, including struggles and wars against the Byzantines and Ottomans. In the fourteenth century, when it was burnt and rebuilt, and during the Second Crusade of 1396 and Vlad the Impaler's wars, the fortress played an important role on the international military stage.