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Antiquity – Middle Ages

Hisar Kapia

Hisar Kapia is one of the most recognizable gates in the Old Town. It marks the historic fortification line and links the ancient and medieval core with the later National Revival urban fabric.

Hisar Kapia
Michal Valach, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 Image license

Story of the place

How to read this place

Hisar Kapia — the eastern gate of the acropolis — has guarded the entrance to Plovdiv's Old Town for nearly two thousand years: Roman at its base, medieval in its arch, and framed today by the Revival houses built into its walls.

First gate
2nd c. AD
Present form
13th–14th c.
Acropolis gates
3

The Roman gate

The first gate on this spot was built in the 2nd century AD as part of the acropolis fortifications of Philippopolis. It was one of the citadel's three main gates — Eastern, Northern and Southern.

Source trail: Wikipedia — Hisar Kapia ↗

Rebuilt in the Middle Ages

The gate's present form took shape in the 13th–14th century, with a masonry of stone and brick pieces bound with white mortar — a technique typical of the Second Bulgarian Empire. In the early 20th century Hisar Kapia was reinforced because of its poor condition.

Source trail: Wikipedia — Hisar Kapia ↗

Houses on the walls

During the Ottoman period wealthy Plovdiv merchants built their Revival houses directly onto the fortress ruins, so that the lower storeys of those homes are the ancient walls themselves. Today the gate is one of the most recognisable corners of the Old Town.

Source trail: Wikipedia — Hisar Kapia ↗
Today and what to notice

Current status

Publicly accessible Old Town site; detailed visiting conditions still need verification.

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Public Wikidata record

gate in Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Type
gate
Status/protection
monument

Traces and evidence

Current status

Publicly accessible Old Town site; detailed visiting conditions still need verification.

Ownership, care and institutions

The public record used here does not identify a traceable ownership or management history. This page therefore shows only verified institutional and source links.

Connected people

No people are linked in the current knowledge base.

Visit and orientation

Coordinates
42.14992, 24.75338 · wikidata_coordinate
Built/date
Antiquity – Middle Ages
Architect/builder
not identified in the current public source
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Full event stream

No separate events are linked to this place.

No separate events are present for this place in the current knowledge base; use the public record, sources and description.

Around this place

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No separate archive or then/now record is available for this place yet. The main image, coordinates and sources remain published.