The medieval fortress Hotalich

The fortress Hotalich is a predecessor of today’s town Sevlievo. It is situated on a natural fortified hill above the gorge of Rositsa River. Hotalich was founded in 5-6th century as an early Byzantine fortress and town. The archeological excavations in the region started comparatively late – in 1979. The first find is the remains of a small medieval church, built in 12-14th century. The archeologists found out a second older church from the 5-6th in it. In 1981 the explorations of the fortress itself and the village below it began. Hotalich was important strategic defence point for the capital city Tarnovo. The citadel was surrounded by stone walls, some of which are kept today up to three meters in height, defence towers and five gates. A water reservoir, used during sieges, was found also in the fortress. For ten years in the area of the village 86 stone buildings were found, which means that Hotalich was large town at the time. Because of the slope of the hill, the buildings were semi-dug. They were built from stones and mud. In 1993 the archeologists found a treasure of 2944 coins. Most of them are from copper, stamped in the 12th century in Constantinopolis, but there are also 146 Bulgarian coins.