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Fortress

The fortress had existed even during the Thracian ages, but became strategically important in the medieval ages. It is named after the great Bulgarian ruler Ivan Asen II.The fudal castle of the fortress with the tower and the 2 water reservoirs are thoroughly studied and conserved. The only building preserved – the church “Holy Mother of God, Petrichka” – was restored in 1934 and 1985, while the restoration of the wall paintings was completed in 1991. The same year the church was awarded a statue of functioning temple.

A part from fortress

The medieval fortress is situated on the top of an enormous rock on the left bank of the Assenitsa River, 3 kilometers south of Assenovgrad. The first to build a stronghold there were the Thracians in the 5th - 4th c.B.C. The fortress was a busy place during both Roman and early Byzantine epochs. The first written data on its existence was found in the Statute of Bachkovo Monastery where it was referred to as "the stronghold of Petrich". During the Middle Ages the fortress was subjected to largescale construction work, the most significant part of which was done in the 13th century under tsar Ivan Assen ІІ. An eight-line inscription in Bulgarian at the entrance of the fortress commemorates his glory. "In 6739/1231/, Indiction 4, Ivan Assen, by God's will Tsar of the Bulgarians, the Greeks and other peoples, installed Alexi Sevast here in power and erected this fortress". It was this inscription that encouraged people later to give Petrich Fortress a new name - Assen's Fortress and to rename the nearby town of Steinmachos Assenovgrad. Thanks to excavation work were found the fortress walls, the castle of the feudal lord and three water reservoirs. But the only preserved and most remarkable building in the fortress is a 13th - century church called St Mary of Petrich. It is two-storey, cross-dome, one-nave church with a wide narthex and a big square belfry above it.It is for the exquisite architecture, the plastic decoration of the south facade and the fragments of the inique 14th - century murals that this church is said to be one of the best examples of medieval architecture in Bulgaria.The fortress was conquered by the Byzantines under the heirs of Ivan Assen ІІ, but in 1344 under tsar Ivan Alexander the Bulgarians regained it. After the Ottoman invasion of the 14th century the fortress lost its strategic position as a frontier stronghold.

The first written source about the fortress dated from XI century. In 1083 Georgian Gregory Bakuriani, who held a high post under the Byzantine Emperor Alexi I Komnin (1081-1118), built the Bachkovo Monastery and wrote its Regulations, where for the first time the fortress was mentioned. According to these regulations it functioned as such and was a strategic fort with its own military and administrative power and own feudal castle. The fortress was situated 2km north of Stanimahos village overlapping some of the border parts of Byzantine. It was described by the chroniclers as a well-fortified castle and a beautiful town. During the Crusader III by Frederic I Barbarosa the Crusaders perhaps conquered it. But the fortress was mostly developed under the reign of the Bulgarian king Ivan Asen II. After he had extended Bulgarian borders reaching 3 seas – White Sea, Black Sea, and Adriatic Sea, he activated and enormous construction work with aim to strengthen and fortify the fortress of Rhodope rampart. The walls of the fortress were built of stones connected with white plaster. Wooden gratings, longitudinal and cross beams were used to strengthen the walls. Towers, usually in a rectangular shape protected the approachable places. By the order of Ivan Asen II the church “Holy Mother of God, Petrichka” was built. In 1410, after the fall of Bulgaria under Ottoman Rule, the fortress was destroyed, because of the civil struggles of the Turkish commanders. The work of restoration started in 1934 and continued until nowadays.

The Second Empire was as ephemeral as the first. After the death of Assen II, the country was ruled by his sons, Kaloman Assen I, who took the throne at age 7 and reigned from 1241 through 1246, and then Michail, who reigned until killed by his cousin Kaloman II in 1257. Kaloman II ruled for one year until he was abandoned by the Bolyars and killed. Tsar Mizo Assen ruled for one year, 1256-57. He was defeated by Constantin Tih, declared Tsar by the Bolyars who had become displeased with the rule of the Assens. This was a period of decline began that coincided with the Tartar invasion of 1241 and led to the restoration of the Byzantine Empire. Genghis Khan consolidated under his command the Tartars of the Golden Horde, a Turkish-Mongolian people from Central Asia. Beginning in 1240, the Tatars had launched a series of invasions toward the west. The main body of the Tatar force commanded by Genghis's son, Batu, moved up the Hungarian plain in an orgy of plundering and devastation, and in the process a large portion of the local population perished.

The view from fortress regiment to the town

The church was partially restored in the 1900's. It is a very rare and valuable representation of sacral architecture in Bulgaria, a paragon of Bulgarian Rococo style. There also remain some small sections of wall paintings inside the church which are dated from the 14th and 19th centuries. The lower level served as a funeral crypt.