Round tower

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The architectural and archeological complex Hissar Kapiya – Round Tower is part of the fortifications of the Three Hills dated to the early Byzantine period (5th-6th centuries). The eastern gate to the specially fortified Three Hills was located somewhere here. The Turkish name Hissar Kapiya (meaning “ Fortress Gate”, used even today, reveals the importance of the gate in this particular place during the late Middle Ages, when the fortifications in this sector were significantly reconstructed.
  The early Byzantine fortifications of the Three Hills, dated to the 5th – 6th centuries resulted from the efforts of the Emperors of the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantine Empire to defend the cities in the hinterland of the new capital city during the turbulent years of repeated barbarian invasions. The changes in the lifestyle and the form of city government caused the functions of the ancient Forum, Stadium and Theatre to decline. That was probably the reason for the erection of a new kind of buildings in the best protected place, the Three Hills, which were associated with the newly adopted Christian faith and the new form of government.
  The newly built course of the fortification wall along the eastern slope of the Three Hills can be traced in the sectors at the Round Tower, where a second wall, “proteichisma”, was built, and further southwards, under Zlatyu Boyadzhiev Gallery, Puldin restaurant and along Tseretelev Street and Zora Street, reaching Dzhambaz Tepe hill.
  In the western part of the fortifications the defensive wall, dated to the 5th-6th centuries, doubles the late Hellenistic and Roman wall, best preserved in Vitosha Street, where several triangular towers are seen. The western gate of the fortification, doubling the ancient course here as well, is located to the east of the Dzhoumaya Square, somewhere along Saborna Street.
  The 5th-6th century fortifications of the Three Hills were maintained (reconstructed and extended) throughout the Middle Ages. Sectors preserved from that period can be seen on Nebet Tepe hill, along the western and eastern course, as well as in the eastern part of Dzhambaz Tepe hill, around Puldin restaurant.