Tsarevets, Medieval fortress on Tsarevets Hill in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria.

Tsarevets is a fortress on a 206-metre hill in Veliko Tarnovo, girdled by walls up to 3.6 m thick. At its centre lies the royal palace, a closed complex of 4,872 m² with a throne hall, palace church and residential quarters. On the hilltop stands the Patriarchate, about 3,000 m², with the Cathedral of the Ascension rebuilt in 1981.

The fortress was founded in 1185 and served for nearly 200 years as the center of the Second Bulgarian Empire until Ottoman forces captured it in 1393 after a prolonged siege. The fall marked the end of Bulgarian independence during that era.

The name reflects the tsars who ruled from this site, and you can see how the medieval community was organized across the buildings and spaces. Throughout the complex, signs of daily life and the social order during the Second Bulgarian Empire remain visible today.

The main gate is on the hill's westernmost side, reached by a narrow cut rock massif; the second gate lies 180 m further and the third 450 m beyond that. The palace occupies the central plateau, while the patriarchate stands at the top. The Sound and Light show runs in the evening, and a 15-minute Changing of the Guard takes place each weekend through the summer.

Execution Rock is an outcropping over the Yantra River on Tsarevets hill, not the hill's highest point. From it, traitors were pushed to their deaths. In 1300, Patriarch Joachim was executed there by Tsar Theodore Svetoslav.