Bulgaria · 13th century
Urvich (also known as Kokalyane Urvich because nearest village - Kokalyane) is a medieval fortress in the territory of today's quarter Pancharevo, heir to the village of Glavishevo. It is located on the right riverside of Iskar River, in the hill of "Sredobardie", in the Lozen mountain, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) from Sofia downtown on the road to Samokov. In this region there is a river meander, which has been declared a natural landmark.
The fortress was probably built in the 13th century during the Second Bulgarian Empire and its Emperor Ivan Shishman, called by the local population "Jasen" recent battles against the Ottomans. He has led and it is named and scenic road in the foothills of Vitosha mountain - from Boyana, through Bistrica, Pancharevo and Kokalyane, locality of Prosechenik, to the mouth of the estuary river Vedena in Iskar - Yassenov King Road whereby "Urvich" establishes a permanent connection with Vitosha fortresses" of Bistrica and Battil - Boyana. This region is the intersection of Vitosha, Plana and Lozen Mountains, where, at the Devil's Bridge, in the opposite site of Urvich had guard towers and mobile access bridge to the fortress.
Urvich Wall on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after the fortress of Urvich.
Text adapted from “Urvich” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Kokalyanski Urvich ranks #6,477 of 9,035 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #25 of the 26 mapped in Bulgaria. Founded c. 1250, it is older than 67% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 1090 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Sofia, 18 km away. See how Bulgaria compares in the castle statistics.
View on the interactive castle map →