Sadovec Fortresses

In the summer of 1921 Ivan Velkov, curator of the Sofia National Museum and Vasil Mikov, then a student in history, began a field survey along the valley of Vit River in Northern Bulgaria. The area lied quite away from the busy roads and cultural centres, and the ancient writers as well as the then contemporary scholars knew it rather vaguely.

The Vit valley altogether with its feeders of Chernelka, Tuchenitsa and Kamenitsa, was rich in dense woods, tiny well-fed fields and caves thus providing the most friendly environment for life in peace or shelter in days of trouble for all times.

As a result of the survey, Ivan Velkov issued some topographic maps, drawings and sketches, and descriptions of sites and artefacts. The description of the ruins by Sadovec village – Sadovsko Kale, Golemanovo Kale (Kale is the Turkish word for fortress) and Sadovec Monastery (12th c.) appeared also for the first time. In 1934, Ivan Velkov led the first archaeological research of Sadovsko Kale. The results were brilliant. In April 1935 he released them in Germania Magazine. Even then, he associated the villages – fortresses with the Goths. Todor Gerassimov worked out and issued the numerous coins, two 6th century golden coin hoards included. The excavations continued in 1936 at the opposite Golemanovo Kale, now as a co-project of the Bulgarian and German Archaeological Institutes. The team leader was Gerhard Bersu. The excavations were over in 1937. The Second World War and the most complicated age that followed delayed for ten of years the release of the results. The detailed publication of the data on Sadovec appeared in 1992 in German as a work of the most prominent Bulgarian and German scholars.

Sadovsko Kale and Golemanovo Kale make a pair of fortresses rising opposite one another on both sides of Vit River. In the late 3rd till the late 4th c. a village existed at the site of Golemanovo Kale. Its inhabitants were likely artisans and ironsmiths as a lot of iron slag and some kilns were revealed there. The village was burnt down by the Goth’s invasion before the battle at Hadrianopolis in 378 or possibly by the Huns. During the 5th c. the site was abandoned. The fortress was constructed in the mid 6th c. under Emperor Justinian. It was set up over a naturally protected site on the right bank of the river. The fortress walls were of a solid construction taking advantage of the terrain. The northern walls were doubled, and pairs of towers rose to the west.

The houses followed the peculiarities of the terrain. They were arranged in tiers. The foundations were laid in stone, and the upper floors were perhaps of wood. When the fortress was burnt down, all that remained was a thick layer of ash. Small narrow streets run between the houses forming a kind of situlae various in size.

In the 6th c. another open village also existed to the west of the fortress. At its site one-nave basilica was set up that perished in fire about 560.

Sadovsko Kale rises at a site peculiar of its time. It is on the left bank of Vit River, 2 km east of Sadovec village. Sheer rocks naturally protect its northern and eastern sides, and a fortress walls run along its other two peripheries. The built-up area measures 80 m in length and 20 m in width. The main sector of the fortress runs along the western periphery of the hill. The wall is also doubled. To the south both walls form a space pentagon in shape and well protected. This room is rather interesting because of the artifacts found inside. Most probably it was a workshop. A fireplace dug into the ground was revealed, and also bronze tubes employed to blow glassware. Seventeen houses were investigated inside the fortress. They were arranged along the inner wall, all their entrances facing east. Opposite them and divided by a narrow street four more constructions were revealed. Again, the foundations were laid in stone with upper floors made of wood. The artefacts discovered are really rich: various jewels, fibulae, numerous fragments of glassware and window glass.

Both Golemanovo and Sadovsko Kale perished in fire about the very late 6th c. The written sources record that in 597 a severe Avar invasion swept away many fortresses in today’s Northern Bulgaria. The coin hoards found in Golemanovo Kale and in other fortresses in the region support this information – the latest coins within them belong to Emperor Mauritius dating from 595 – 596.

KATYA MELAMED