King Shishman's Treasure Discovered under Dumping Site

Standart Daily, Ivan Ivanov

Prof. Nikolay Ovcharov (left) and Dr. Hitko Vachev show a capital discovered at the base of the medieval church "St. Ivan Rilski" in the town of Veliko Tarnovo. Under the fragments of the church they found king Ivan Shishman's treasure.

The treasure of King Ivan Shishman (1371-1395) turned to be hidden under a dumping site. The team of Prof. Nikolay Ovcharov discovered over 100 silver coins from the treasure in Veliko Tarnovo, the capital of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom (12th-14th century). They were unearthed during excavations under the St. Ivan Rilski church. Some of the coins once belonged to Sultan Bayezid and his heirs.
The archaeologists have been working for ten days already on the site, where the church with the relics of the saint was once situated.
"Piles of garbage were transported by trucks to create the conditions for the archaeological research," the archaeologists explained.
Huge stone capital, once used during religious ceremonies, was brought out of the church yesterday.
"It's not clear how big the church was. We suppose that it was at least 12 meters long," said archaeologist Hitko Vachev, co-head of the archaeological team.