On the right bank of the Yantra River opposite Tsarevets Fortress is Trapezitsa Fortress. It can be reached by a gondola lift moving on the rail, the so-called Funicular, the lower station of which starts from the parking lot of the recently restored Trapezitsa railway station, where at 9:00 am on September 22, 1908 the train of Tsar Ferdinand I together with the Bulgarian political elite stopped. The first copy of the Manifesto for the Declaration of the Independence of Bulgaria was made there on this great date.
Trapezitsa Hill is a natural fortress, completely surrounded by the river, it was connected to Tsarevets Fortress through its Main entrance, which is located on the south side, forming a bridge over Yantra River.
Trapezitsa Fortress had 17 richly decorated churches, the foundations of which can still be seen today.
In the largest church of Trapezitsa Fortress it is believed that the relics of St. Ivan Rilski, brought to Veliko Tarnovo from the town of Sredets (today Sofia) by Tsar Ivan Asen I. That is why the church was named “Ivan Rilski”, although in 1469 the relics of the saint were transferred for storage in Rila Monastery.
With the advent of the Ottoman Empire on the territory of our country, excavations and research related to Fortress of Trapezitsa were banned. Research on the hill resumed only after the Liberation.
Legend there is that pure gold coins were cast on Trapezitsa, but when the Ottoman army entered, all the gold was hidden in a secret dungeon protected by a stone slab.
The Heydar Aliyev Foundation, represented by the First Lady of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva, recently donated 1,251,000 euros to the thousand-year-old Trapezitsa Hill in Veliko Tarnovo and restoration works have been done.
