Country: Bulgaria Location: Shumen City Price:   EUR: 9900 Yard: 2000 sq. m. Area: 70 sq. m. Bedrooms: 2 Status: Available

This property is set at the edge of a picturesque village just 23km from the regional centre Shumen and not far from historic places closely knitted with the early history of the Bulgarian Kingdom. The town of Shumen is not only the administrative, business and cultural centre of the region, but it’s also closely connected with the history of Bulgaria. A blend of mellow Baroque and smart modern architecture gives downtown Shumen an expansive air. It has several museums and visitors may wish to see the History Museum where Thracian and medieval artifacts are handsomely displayed. Shumen also boasts an equally fine Art Gallery, but the town’s main sight is the C18 Tombul Mosque with its bulbous dome and proud minaret. Raised on the orders of Sherif Pasha in 1744, the mosque dates from the time when the estern part of the town was transformed into a stronghold with huge ramparts and 12 fortified gates. There’s more to see in Shumen’s old quarter, which huddles either side of the Poroina River with a C18 Clock Tower as its chief landmark. North of the river are several old residences preserved in honour of their former occupants. Best of all is the Kossuth House where the Magyar revolutionary Lajos Kossuth stayed for three months after fleeing Hungary in 1849, before the Turks interned him in Asia Minor. Yet another museum-house – near the Kurshum Fountain on the south side of the river – commemorates Pancho Vladigerov: a Spaniard who settled in Shumen and became Bulgaria’s first composer of classical music, now honoured by tagging his name to an annual Festival of Piano Music.
There are three distinguished archaeological sites nearby to justify a visit: the ruins of Pliska – the capital of the First Kingdom, the remains of Veliki Preslav – Tsar Simeon made it his capital, and the Madara Horseman – a mysterious bas-relief dating back to the C3 BC and representing a horseman whose mount is trampling a lion with the assistance of a greyhound, while he holds the reigns in one hand and a wine-cup in the other.
The village lies closest to Veliki Preslav whose ruins are scattered over three square kilometers near the banks of the Ticha, and to make sense of them it helps to see the plans and model in the site’s Archaeological Museum. From its store of lapidary and jewellery, the mind’s eye can dress the bare ruins of the Palace where the Tsar held court “in a garment studded with pearls, girt with a purple girdle and a golden sword by his side”, and put a dome on the well-preserved Round Church. Several arches, the bulk of its walls and twelve marble columns (some truncated) still remain. Founded by Khan Omurtag in 821, Veliki Preslav acquired the prefix “Great” after it was made the capital of the First Kingdom, during the reign of Tsar Simeon (893-927) – although it began to eclipse the original capital, Pliska, at an earlier date. According to John the Exarch’s Shestodnev, C10 Veliki Preslav was the most populous town in the Balkans, with extensive suburbs surrounding a walled inner town containing “large buildings of stone on both sides, decorated with wood’. It also held a Palace, a royal School of Translators, the Patriarchate and other ‘churches ornamented with stones, wood and paintings, marble and copper, silver and gold’.
The large land plot of 2 000sq.m contains an old rural house which has three rooms. The property is connected to electric and water mains, and has a septic tank. There’s a dirt road leading to the property. In the yard there’s enough parking space and some sheds. The house needs some renovation and our teams of building specialists are able to assist you with all your property needs.