Medieval Fortress

Location ID: 2609

This medieval fortress is located just shy of a 2 hour drive from Sofia, at the very verge of the city of Peshtera. In the center of the fortress there is an older set of stones, probably a Thracian sanctuary. The citadel of the fortress extends to 3 acres and the second belt walls enclose 12 acres. There is a third, outermost zone. In the highest part of the hill there are stones of different sizes, one of which has the shape of a dove, which probably gave the name of the castle – Peristera, which comes from Greek and means “dove”. This fact leads the archaeologists to believe that the same place is probably an ancient Thracian sanctuary.

The fortification walls have a length of 253 meters and enclose a space of 2895 square meters. Before restoration, they were preserved to a height of 2.60 meters. Along the fortress wall there are six towers.