Bulgaria is to spend about BGN 300 million (about EUR 150 million) in European Union funds over the next two years restoring 11 castles and a large number of ancient sites that are popular tourist attractions.
Among the sites where restoration and development works will be done are the museum village of Etara, former capital Pliska, the Madara Horseman cliff carving near the town of Shoumen, Arbanassi, the Assenovgrad fortress, Magura and Ledenika caves and the Belogradchik rocks.
Regional Development and Public Works Minister Liliana Pavlova said that 61 municipalities would be involved in implementing the projects, with their tasks including improving the infrastructure near the tourist attractions.
For example, near the village of Belchin – in western Bulgaria, 15km from Samokov and 50km from Bulgaria’s capital city Sofia – there is a fortress dating back 1700 years. According to the report, the fortress, with walls 350m long and six towers, would be restored to its former appearance within two years.
Close to the fortress walls, archaeologists found the remains of three churches, said to date back to the same period as the fortress, seen as proof that Christianity had come to the region at the time of Byzantine emperor Constantine the Great.