Hisarya

Hisarya was a Roman spa town, Diocletianopolis, built around its mineral springs and walled in the late third century, and the walls are what make it unusual: substantial stretches survive to good height around the modern town, with towers and four gates, of which the southern gate, called the Camels from the shape of its two remaining piers, stands about thirteen metres. Inside the circuit are Roman baths, a basilica, tombs and an amphitheatre. The springs, twenty-two of them at different temperatures and mineral contents, are still used and the town functions as a spa with sanatoria and bath houses. A painted Roman tomb of the fourth century is preserved with its wall decoration.

History

The town grew up around its hot springs in prehistory and became a Thracian and then a Roman town, one of the three most important in the province, known at times as Augusta and Diocletianopolis, a resort that Septimius Severus visited; its Roman walls are the best preserved in Bulgaria, and the southern gate, the Camels, took its name from its broken middle before it was partly restored early in the 20th century. Known in the Middle Ages as Sebastopolis and later Alexiopolis or Neokastron, it declined after Rome, its ruins quarried by villagers for stone, until it revived once its mineral springs were rediscovered (Wikipedia, Hisarya, Bulgaria).

Highlights

• The Camels gate - the southern gate standing about thirteen metres.
• Late Roman walls around the town - long stretches with towers.
• Twenty-two mineral springs - the water the town was built for.
• A painted Roman tomb - fourth-century decoration preserved.

When to go

April to October. Half a day. Museums and the painted tomb have limited hours. The spa facilities operate year round. It is an easy trip from Plovdiv.

Before you go

The modern town is built through the Roman circuit, so the walls are seen in fragments between buildings. Spa facilities are dated socialist-era sanatoria. The painted tomb is often closed. Interpretation is limited.

Nearby

Starosel is west; Plovdiv lies south.