Asen's Fortress

Asenova Krepost stands on a rock spur above the Chepelarska river gorge south of Asenovgrad, fortified from Thracian times and rebuilt by Ivan Asen II in 1231, whose inscription recording the work survives on the rock. The walls, gates and cisterns are ruinous, but one building stands almost complete: the church of the Mother of God of Petrich, a two-storey Byzantine-plan church of the twelfth or thirteenth century with a tower, standing right on the edge of the cliff with a drop beneath its apse, restored in the twentieth century and holding fragments of wall painting. The approach is a steep path from the road. The view runs down the gorge toward the Thracian plain and up toward the Rhodopes.

History

The hill was used by the Thracians and in Roman and early Byzantine times, and the fortress appears as Petrich in the 11th-century statute of the Bachkovo Monastery; in 1205 the Latin duke of Philippopolis, Renier of Trit, held out here with 40 knights for eleven months before he was relieved. In 1231 Tsar Ivan Asen II had it rebuilt as a border fortress, as an eight-line inscription records, and after the Ottoman conquest in the 14th century it fell to ruin, except for the Church of the Holy Mother of God of the 12th-13th century, with murals of the 14th century, kept in use by local Christians and restored by 1991 (Wikipedia, Asen's Fortress).

The main sights

• The cliff-edge church - a two-storey building on the lip of the drop.
• Ivan Asen's inscription - the 1231 record cut into the rock.
• Walls, gates and cisterns - the ruined fabric across the spur.
• The gorge view - down toward the plain and up into the Rhodopes.

When to go

April to October. Two hours including the climb, which is steep. Late afternoon light on the church is best. It combines with Bachkovo Monastery further up the same road.

Before you go

The climb from the car park is steep with steps and no shade. The church is often locked and seen from outside. Interpretation is limited. Parking on the road is tight and fills at weekends.

Nearby

Bachkovo Monastery is up the valley; Asenovgrad lies north.

Key facts