The 12th archaeological season at Ryahovets Fortress near Gorna Oryahovitsa has begun. Work will continue until the end of November, with nearly EUR 30,000 in funding from the Ministry of Culture, local media reported on October 22, citing the History Museum in Gorna Oryahovitsa.<\/p>\n
This year's excavations will focus on the northern settlement outside the fortress. Archaeologists are examining a medieval church with a narthex and a burial ground dating from the 12th to 14th centuries. So far, 54 burials have been excavated in the area, with finds including Christian religious objects, jewellery and fragments of wall paintings.<\/p>\n
The team is led by Iliyan Petrakiev of the Regional History Museum in Veliko Tarnovo, with Maya Ivanova of the History Museum in Gorna Oryahovitsa as deputy director and Professor Hitko Vachev as academic adviser. Archaeological investigations at the site resumed in 2015 after a long interruption.<\/p>\n
Alongside the research, the Ryahovets Archaeological School continues its activities. Students from five secondary schools in Veliko Tarnovo, Gorna Oryahovitsa and Lyaskovets are expected to take part this season. The initiative combines the study of local heritage with practical experience for young people.<\/p>\n
The team's long-term aim is to create the conditions to preserve and present the excavated church and burial ground once the investigations are complete. This is a proposal for a future project, not restoration work that has already begun.<\/p>\n
Sources:<\/strong> RegNews, October 22, 2026<\/a>; Gorna Oryahovitsa Municipality, history of the excavations<\/a>.<\/p>\n Illustrative photograph from an archaeological excavation in C\u00e1diz, Spain: JR Harris \/ Unsplash (Unsplash License). It does not depict Ryahovets Fortress.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 12th archaeological season at Ryahovets has begun. Nearly EUR 30,000 will fund the excavations near Gorna Oryahovitsa.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[21,3],"tags":[16,49,48],"class_list":["post-1730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kultura","category-oblastta","tag-aktualno","tag-arheologiya","tag-gorna-oryahovitsa"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/5000.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/\u0410\u0440\u0445\u0435\u043e\u043b\u043e\u0433-\u043d\u0430-\u0440\u0430\u0437\u043a\u043e\u043f\u043a\u0438-\u2014-\u0438\u043b\u044e\u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u0446\u0438\u044f-JR-Harris-Unsplash.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/5000.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/5000.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/5000.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/5000.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/5000.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1730"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/5000.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1743,"href":"https:\/\/5000.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1730\/revisions\/1743"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/5000.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/5000.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/5000.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/5000.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}