Lyutitsa Medieval Fortress

Lyutitsa is located in the farthest eastern part of the Rhodopi mountain, about 7 km away from the town of Ivaylovgrad. It is one of the best preserved mountain fortresses not only in the Rhodopi, but also in Bulgaria. At places its walls reach 10 m in height and have been preserved all around the fortress, occupying an area of nearly 15 decares. The defence walls are fortified by 12 towers, 9 of which still exist in their original height. The foundations of a church can still be seen in the center of the fortress, as well as a water storage basin, carved into the hard rock, with a diameter of 4 m. Lyutitsa is first mentioned in the written historical sources in the time of the ruling of the emperor Luv IV. In XIV century it was a seat of a bishop from the Plovdiv Bishopric.