Pliska - Shadows of the Ancient Capital

It is strange that I visited the ruins of the ancient capital of my people only recently. As you can see from the photographic material, I have been relying on a fish-eye lens so that I am able to capture wide angles but also I distorted the real lines. Yes, that means ancient Bulgarians also built their columns and walls straight.

Pliska was the first capital of Bulgaria that still lies in our present territory.

It was founded in 681 AD by Khan Asparukh (or Asparuh, Isperih) of the first known Bulgarian Khan dynasty - Dulo. He was one of the five sons of Khan Kubrat, who ruled over Old Great Bulgaria from Phanagoria - a stone city on the Taman peninsula in present Russia - east overseas from the Crimean peninsula.

A legend tells of Khan Kubrat gathering his five sons around his death bed to show them that a single spear could be easily broken, a stack of five would not bend.

Being third in line Asparukh was about to be a priest of Tangra.

Still, the sons of Kubrat did not stand together and they dispersed, each taking his following with him to new lands. Some did not last for too long even after establishing some sorts of states.

But Khan Asparuch managed to cross the Danube river and hold a position long enough to establish a fort. He made alliance with the Slavic tribes in the area and was able to withstand a siege by the emperor of the Byzantium Empire, Constantine IV Pogonatus. The later was forced to recognize the new Bulgarian state west of the Black Sea.

Pliska remained capital until 893 AD when Tsar Simeon, The Great moved his throne to Preslav since the freshly Christened people needed a new cultural, political and religious center.

The photographs that follow are mostly from the restoration project on a basilica form the latest period of ancient Pliska. Those on the bottom are closer to the state it actually was found in, including a few details from recent diggings.

Well, not much left. As they say, it's history.