 Fortress Bukelon
In Bulgarian: Крепост Букелон
Category: Fortress
Location: Matochina
Longtitude: 26.54687941 Latitude: 41.85369191
The fortress Bukelon is located near the village of Matochina, the municipality of Svilengrad. The fortress is situated on a high hill, in the north end of the village and is encircling the whole ridge with its length of 150 meters and width of 60 meters. With its 18 meters height, the fortress Bukelon is an impressive and majestic view among the surrounding landscape. The citadel itself has the form of a cross, and the shorter part of the cross is oriented towards east, and the longer - towards west.
Today, the inner defensive tower and part of the double fortification wall are really well preserved. Tower and fortified walls were built of bricks and stones soldered with white plaster. There were three large floors, and the latter - with semi-cylindrical shape, had been used for a chapel. The Battlements were located from the all sides, and were accessible through wooden stairs.
The fortress was repeatedly rebuilt during the centuries, according to the needs of its owners.
In the year of 387 there was a great battle which took place here between the armies of the Emperor Valens and the Goths that ended with the complete rout of the Roman army and the death of the emperor.
Here in 1205, the army of tsar Kaloyan defeated the army of the knight - crusaders, and captured their leader - Emperor Baldwin of Flanders. The legend says that the emperor had spent his first night as a prisoner into this fortress. That is the reason why it is also known as the Baldwin Tower among the people living in this area.
When some researches were conducted close to the front door of the fortress, a built-in cross monogram from XIV century was found. The alphabetic letters indicated the name of Michel. It is known that around the year of 1328, the Bulgarian king Michael, fighting against Andronicus III, had reached down to Dimotica, today` s North Greece.
The Fortress of Bukelon is included in the List of 100 National Tourist Sites of Bulgaria.
|
village Matochina
RSS 2.0
Atom